


Mutual Frustration

by Sarcastic_Soulmate



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute, F/F, F/M, Insecurity, Jealousy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sarcasm, also please let me know if you see typos, weirdest longfic ever, wooo lbgt representation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 46,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26637976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Soulmate/pseuds/Sarcastic_Soulmate
Summary: Cindy reveals that she has feelings for a coworker and he admits it too. They decide to stay friends and exchange numbers to help each other through their mutual frustration. What if Leslie sees them hanging out together and gets a little jealous? What happens when Ben finally has someone to talk to? A lot of angst, a lot of fluff, and a whole lot of misunderstandings.
Relationships: Ben Wyatt & Cindy Miller, Cindy Miller/Original Female Character, Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 68
Kudos: 30





	1. Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this becomes a longfic but I'm actually not sure where this is going to go. Please comment what you think of this first chapter!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy and Ben's date.

Ben didn't want to go on this date. It would be enjoyable under different circumstances, for example, the girl being a certain blue-eyed blonde whom he may or may not be enamored with. But Leslie was unobtainable. He couldn't risk getting fired, or more importantly, getting her fired.

It's too late to cancel now. He should just go on the date. He's not one to open up to people (except Leslie, but that is neither here nor there), but maybe he should be honest with her or just tell the truth but be super vague about it. He could just suck it up and go. That's always an option.

The rule was just annoying at this point. Yes, it's essential and it makes sense to have to avoid corruption, but why does it have to affect them? They're people who mean well and try to do as much good as possible! Why did things never go their way?

//

He walks into the restaurant, scanning around the area for Cindy. She's not here yet. He picks a table in the back and sits down, looking around.

Cindy appears as he's staring at the floor. She's wearing a casual navy blue dress that exposes her shoulders, and her dark brown hair flows down her back.

"Hey." She looked nervous; a little too nervous. Maybe his nerves were making him feel paranoid.

"Hey," he says, as casually as he can. 

She sits down and a waiter brings them both menus.

He pretends to be really interested in the menu to avoid eye contact with her. It doesn't work, because he fidgets and feels himself getting sweaty.

Aside from his feelings for Leslie, first dates are always nervous and awkward. He remembers that the first time he went out with Cindy Eckert, he was so nervous, he chugged down his Sprite and started choking and coughing while she sat there looking super uncomfortable.

They both order a chicken salad.

As he waits for his food, he can't help but think about Leslie's reaction to chicken salad. Her face would scrunch up adorably as she looked at the vegetable-packed food with disdain. He smiles.

"So.... Chris," Cindy starts.

"He is quite a character," Ben adds.

"That he is," she replies, looking around the room. The waiter comes by and places their food on the table wordlessly.

Cindy takes a deep breath and sighs, staring at her plate for a good minute before looking back up at him. "I have to be honest with you."

Ben freezes a little and looks at her curiously. "Yeah?"

"I sort of have feelings for someone I work with."

"Oh. Wait, what?" He pauses. "Well, that makes what I'm about to say a lot easier."

Cindy tilts his head to the side in confusion. "What?"

"I sort of like someone in city government too."

"Oh. Well, that worked out perfectly," Cindy snorts.

"Yeah."

"I guess that makes this less awkward, then."

"Definitely." He smiles. "What do we tell Chris? He's nothing if not persistent."

"I don't know. Maybe tell him I wasn't your type?"

"Good idea."

"So, we shouldn't let this dinner go to waste. Let's get down to the good stuff. Who do you like?" She says with a sarcastic smile.

"Very funny."

"Is it that blonde?"

Ben freezes. "What blonde?"

"That girl in the Parks Department. You've chosen well. She's nice." Cindy sips her cola.

"Are you a mind reader?"

"Wait, I was right? Yes!" Cindy says loudly, causing people from the other tables to turn and look at them. Ben reddened a little in embarrassment before taking his focus off of them and looking back to answer her.

"Okay, this is too much of a coincidence. How did you know?"

"Didn't you guys work on the Harvest Festival together? I went, and you two were talking a lot. And flirting very blatantly, for that matter," She says, winking teasingly.

Ben looks away sheepishly, his face starting to redden again. "Uh, what?"

"You two were flirting so hard!" She laughs and leans forward. "Did you not realize it?"

"We were not flirting. We're just friends."

"Apparently not, 'cause you just said you like her."

"I'm her boss. It can't happen."

"I know the feeling."

"Speaking of, who do you like?" He says, laughing at his turning the tables on her.

"What's so funny?"

"I just realized we sound like 12 year old kids with crushes."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Whatever. Anyway, this girl who works with me in the county commissioner's office is who I'm into. She's really sweet."

"And I'm the lame one."

"I didn't say that specifically," she says, feigning innocence.

"But you were thinking it."

She tries to look confused for a moment, but then gives up and sighs. "Ugh, okay, fine."

//

After dinner, he walks Cindy back to her car and she stops before she takes out her keys.

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

Cindy reaches into her purse and pulls out a small yellow notepad and a blue ballpoint pen. She starts scribbling furiously, while Ben watches, perplexed. She rips off the paper when she's done and hands it to Ben. Her phone number.

"If you ever want to..." She takes a quick look at her surroundings. "...talk, about it, call me."

Ben smiles. "I might take you up on that."

"Good." She says, and pulls out her keys. She opens her car door and gets in, starts it and drives off.

Ben walks to his car, glad he finally has someone to talk to.


	2. The Power In Feeling Powerless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm like that lightbulb. Weak, flickering, barely giving off any light, unable to make out with the lightbulb I want to make out with." 
> 
> Heavily based off that quote. 
> 
> A lot of scenes and a lot of POVs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I rewatched the episode, so I changed Cindy's job in the first chapter back to what would be canon compliant. Made her a cop at first but it turns out she works for the county commissioner's office or some shit lmao. Plus, I'm not sure if this is going to turn really AU or not, but I'm trying to stir up drama for the future chapters send help lmaooo

Ben drives back to his new home, feeling content. He made a new friend he has something in common with, and he feels less alone. It can jeopardize their careers, but at least he doesn't have to keep it all bottled up inside.

He can't talk to Chris about it because he's directly involved. Then he couldn't talk to anyone else, because, well, they wouldn't understand.

He turns right, and groans at the red light.

Then he remembers.

April and Andy will probably be home soon. He crosses his fingers, hoping they followed his instructions. Why did he move in with these two psychos anyway? He knew what he was getting into, but he was desperate to find a place to live.

And what's with the mess? They made that in one week?

This living situation is already stressful.

The red light turns green, and he floors it, slowing down once he regains his composure.

//

Leslie drives quickly, her mind filled with paranoia. Is Marcia following her? She takes a quick glance in the rearview mirror and sighs in relief. Doesn't look like it.

Most would say it's just a painting, but she disagrees. She feels empowered looking at it, and she's been feeling pretty powerless lately.

The rule is annoying. No one asked for it, and who is it helping? Okay, it's stopping people from corruption and favoritism and all that jazz, but whatever! Leslie should get to make out with the lightbulb she wants to make out with! She deserves it.

But no, he gets to make out with Cindy Miller! Well, knowing him, he would want to take it slow. That makes her smile. Ugh! Why can't she get him out of her head? None of this is fair.

She stops the car in the driveway, silently praying that April and Andy are home as she rapidly knocks on the door. Her eyes widen when it opens.

//

Ben was planning on hiding in his room from Andy and April and taking some time to think, but his plan is interrupted when he hears a knock at the door. 

"Oh, hi."

"Hi."

"I was at a meeting around the corner and some people wanted to destroy this painting, so I brought it here. Where's Andy and April?" She asks in confusion.

"They're out shopping."

"What are you doing here?" Leslie hopes that doesn't sound condescending. She's just curious, but fortunately for her, Ben doesn't look insulted. He looks like he doesn't even know the answer to that question. 

"I... moved into the spare room."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Huh." That's going to go well. Her eyes shift around. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Of course." He makes to move to the side to create space for her.

"Why do they want to destroy it?"

"Well, its a painting of me... as a centaur."

"Okay," he says, a little confused.

"And it's a nude," she says quickly.

"Oh." He breaks their eye contact. This is awkward.

"Just basically like the... chestal region mostly." She gestures toward her body. No, no, no, this is not happening. This is too weird. Not that her body's weird, quite the opposite actually, but... what is happening? There's some kind of fire in her eyes, one he's always noticed, but its raging even more than it ever has before, and it scares him.

//

"Leslie, I don't mean to be inappropriate or anything, because you're my boss and my friend, but I would totally hit that."

"So would I," April admits.

"You guys are sweet." She takes a couple of steps forward. "Okay, well I should go, and hit the road with this and um... oh."

Leslie sort of... wants him to see it. She awkwardly takes the painting from Andy and April and turns so it's in his view.

"Okay." He looks away immediately, which disappoints her, but at least she got her message across.

The painting gives her power, can't anyone understand that? It's giving her hope in a hopeless world. She's always been positive, but she needed a pick-me-up sometimes. Something to remind her that its not Leslie against the world, and if it is, then it lets her know she can kick its ass.

She is Dyaphena. And she can take on the world.

//

Ben stands there, doing nothing as he gets pelted with marshmallows. He honestly isn't surprised.

What is surprising, however, is that they actually bought the things on the list. Oh well, people can surprise you.

And he can't get that painting out of his mind. Damn that thing for awakening some fantasies he would rather not admit to himself he had.

Ones that may or may not involve his bed. Well, okay, they definitely do, but no one needs to know that.

He flops on his new bed with a sigh, and pulls out the scrap of paper in his pocket along with his phone.

//

Cindy's at home, lounging on the couch after changing into comfier clothing and wiping off her make-up, her hair in a messy ponytail when her phone rings.

An unfamiliar number.

Having an idea of who it might be, she answers.

"Hello?" She calls.

"Cindy?"

"Oh, hey, Ben. I had a feeling it might be you."

"You will never guess what just happened."

"Let me guess. Did it have something to do with Jerry's painting?"

He gasps. "How did you know about that?"

"I have my ways."

"Or maybe you just heard about it at city hall."

"Yes. That is my way," she admits.

"So what happened?"

"I'll start from the beginning," he says.

"Alright," Cindy replies. She walks over to her kitchen to grab some popcorn and pop it into the microwave. She's pretty sure this is going to be one wild story.

"So Leslie brought the painting over to April and Andy's...."

//

"Wow. And all of that happened... within an hour?"

"Yeah, just about," he says, remembering something.

"Is there something else?" Cindy asks.

"Kind of. There's sort of a problem." Ben pauses, waiting for her to say something but she says nothing and waits for him to continue. "I don't know what would have happened if Andy and April hadn't come in." Except, in a way, he kind of does...

"Oh. Well, that is a problem."

"Gee, thanks. Anyway, do you have any advice?"

Cindy thinks for a moment. "You should think about that, what would have happened."

"Yeah. Maybe I should. Thanks, Cindy. He's feeling better now, his mind a little clearer than it was before. 

"You're welcome. Hey, at least I know your number now. I can stalk you."

"Very funny, bye!" He says happily, knowing she's probably rolling her eyes at him, and hangs up.

Like he was thinking, he kind of did have an idea of what would happen. They were standing close to each other, him inching ever so slightly closer, and she was talking about how she was so annoyed by all the rules lately.

During those precious few seconds before April and Andy interrupted their moment, images of kissing her flashed though his mind. He pushed them away, but they were still hanging there, almost edging him on.

Ben fell asleep while he was thinking about it.

His dreams were vivid, filled with that same heavy conversation, the unspoken understanding between them when Leslie talked about how much she hated the rules.

It was different from reality, however. In this dream, they were never interrupted, and they didn't just stand there in silence.

Instead, he had cupped the side of her face and leaned down, their lips brushing together ever so softly.

Instead, he gently pushed her forward to press her against the wall, and her arms came up around his neck.

Instead, he ran his hands down her waist and over her hips, causing her to let out the softest moan.

Then he woke up, remembering 'instead' wasn't possible, no matter how real he wanted it to be.

//

Leslie takes the painting home. She'll return it in the morning.

She doesn't feel as powerful as she did earlier. That familiar feeling of being powerless is slowly creeping back.

But she won't let it. Just because her painting will inevitably get destroyed doesn't mean she can't keep it in her heart. Let it empower her when nothing else will.

Chris was saying things about her being unpredictable lately, and maybe it was true. But he's saying that because he still thinks Leslie's having an affair with Tom. Ick. She shudders at the thought.

And another thing. Why was Chris so oblivious? There's that tension in the room whenever she and Ben see each other, one they push down because they don't have a choice. She liked him, and was pretty sure it wasn't one-sided, yet Chris was setting Ben up on dates, talking about he deserves interesting, smart and beautiful people, not noticing the subtle glance Ben gave in Leslie's direction when he did.

Except, that may not be a good thing.

Since the feelings are seemingly returned, her mind isn't letting her get over it. She's still looking for possibilities, ways to work things out.

With Mark, it was similar. Deep down, she knew it wouldn't work out, but she was still searching for the possibility. The chance that she could take if she perfectly planned everything. They never talked about what happened that night.

Then she thought about it more, met Ann and Andy, and grew close to them. After that, she decided she deserved more than a drunken hookup that meant nothing to him and everything to her.

And he still didn't care, he picked Ann over her.

Then she met Dave, a sweet man, but they didn't have the most in common. He was a big guy, she was tiny. She was politically involved with... everything, and he didn't even know who Madeleine Albright was. But he cared about her enough to learn. Mark wasn't like that.

And Justin was another story entirely. No pun intended. He made her insecure, and she didn't even realize it. He made her friends insecure too. She didn't want to be another story he was vacationing in, taking snapsnots of her life, filling it with interesting moments, and filing them away as another chapter in his metaphorical book that he could pull out and read to someone to entertain them.

But Ben was different, and she didn't know when she started feeling this way, or maybe she always did.

She pulls out her phone.

**L -** _Ann!_

  
 **L -** _Talk to me!_

  
 **L -** _Ann, you gorgeous sunfish, I need you!_

**A -** _Oh my God, Leslie, are you ok?_

**L -** _I don't wanna return the painting. :(_

**A -** _Leslie... u know u have to._

**L** **-** _I know. Can you come over?_

**A -** _No way, Knope. Ur house is a scary nightmare hoarder nest._

**L -** _It's not that bad..._

**A -** _It is, but I do happen to have some hot chocolate over at mine.... does that interest you?_

**L -** _..._

**L -** _I'm on my way._

//

  
Ann laughs. She knew that would work.

  
//

  
They spend the night laughing, gossiping, and spraying whipped cream into each other's mouths. As much as Ann detested and tried to correct Leslie's insane eating habits, she did get her hooked on whipped cream. Except she has a limit... Leslie doesn't.

  
"Okay, Leslie, that's enough," she said, gently attempting to pull the whipped cream can out of Leslie's grasp. But she only triggers Leslie's thumb to spray more into her mouth.

  
"No, Ann!" Leslie whines, as Ann finally gets the can away from her face.

  
"You're my best friend and I love you and I don't want you to get diabetes. Is that such a bad thing?"

  
"When you're restricting my whipped cream intake, yes it is," Leslie says seriously, making Ann laugh hysterically.

  
"You'll thank me later," she says, keeping the can out of Leslie's reach.

  
"Thanks Ann, I needed this," Leslie says, leaning on her shoulder.

  
"I thought you were having a good day. The Dyaphena empowerment, or whatever." 

"Yeah, but trying to convince people why a Greek myth isn't offensive is exhausting. Then Brandi Maxxxx, the porn star, defends me by advocating for public sex."

  
"Yuck."

  
"I know." Leslie takes a sip of her hot chocolate.

  
They clink glasses. Drinking hot chocolate with your best friend is truly a perfect end to an interesting day.


	3. Comforting and Unnerving

Leslie walks to Ben and Chris' shared office, stopping to the side of the open door when she heard it. Ben's voice. A woman's laughter.

She shouldn't be upset. After all, he wasn't hers, no matter how much she wanted him to be...

No. She needs to stop this. She's a confident woman; she'll handle the situation like the champ she knows she is.

"Leslie?" A voice calls.

 _Shit._ Ben. She must have been standing there, tuned out for a while. She silently curses herself for allowing herself to invade his line of vision.

"Oh, sorry, must've spaced out." She gingerly takes a step in, and watches as a brunette head turns around to look at her.

"Hey, I'm Cindy. Ben's girlfriend." The woman says, nonchalant, and Ben chokes loudly behind her in shock.

"Ben's... what?" All the air rushed out of the room, and not in a good way. She felt lightheaded, like she was about to faint and could only hold on to the hope that one of them would catch her.

"Cindy-" Ben glares daggers at her, but she doesn't notice.

"Wait.. are you Cindy Miller?" Leslie asked, hoping the air would go back into her lungs.

"You stalking me or something?" She raised an eyebrow jokingly.

"No, no, no!" Leslie says, embarrassed. "Chris mentioned you." She turned to Ben. "I thought she wasn't your type?" Her eyes widened the moment it slipped out, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Crap on a cracker! Sorry! That came out wrong!" Her face reddens in embarrassment.

"No worries, we're just friends." Cindy replied. "Just messing with you."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Leslie. She can't control her sarcasm." Ben deadpans, hoping to move past whatever that was.

"Maybe I can, and I just don't want to. Ever think of that?" She retorts, the eyebrow raise making a comeback.

"Honestly? I wouldn't put it past you." Ben jokes, then turns to Leslie. "Everything okay?"

"Fine! Definitely, I just needed to give you this." She hands him a packet of paperwork. It was a form about parks maintenance that had to be filled out once a week. If she had it her way, it would be required way more often than that. Parks are really important, after all.

"Thanks." He smiles warmly.

"I would have given it to Chris, except I saw him running outside, chanting something about endurance building. As if he needs any more. Figured it was best not to ask questions." Leslie says, in an effort to explain herself. She has to have an excuse, so it wasn't obvious she had a hopeless crush on an unobtainable man. Except it wasn't really an excuse, Chris _was_ actually doing that, and it's known for it to always be best to turn the other cheek when he gets to that point. It's just safer.

"Good call." He says, blushing a little.

Leslie stands there for a moment awkwardly before realizing. "Oh, I should probably go."

"Oh. Well, um... see you later."

"Bye, Benjamin." She says cutely.

His reply was interrupted by a fit of coughing. She seemed to scurry out pretty quickly, he doubts she would have heard him anyway.

Ben turns from the doorway to Cindy, groaning at the smirk on her face. "Don't you dare."

"At the risk of sounding like Chris, that was literally the most hilarious encounter I've ever witnessed." She says, and the dam breaks, causing her to start laughing hysterically.

"I doubt you and Sarah are doing much better." He says, feigning annoyance as he teases her. "Also, thanks for embarrassing Leslie. We all needed that." He groans.

Cindy rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you're right, but I don't think we've ever gotten that lame. And jeez, you're welcome! She was totally jealous!"

Ben freezes. "Wait, what?"

"You didn't see it? Damn, you really are in love."

Before he can question what that means or think about his own feelings about that, Chris walks in, having barely broken a sweat.

"Cindy Miller. Ben Wyatt." He says, in his usual over-enthusiastic tone.

"Hey, Chris." Cindy replies. "I have to go now Ben, call me tomorrow or something."

"Okay, great."

"A heartfelt farewell."

"Very funny, Cindy."

She sticks her tongue out at him, grabs her black purse from the chair, snd walks out of the office.

Chris and Ben sit in silence for a moment or two, too long for him apparently. "You and Cindy are really hitting it off." He remarks.

"Yeah, but not in... that way."

Chris thinks for a moment. "If you don't mind me asking, why not? She seems perfect for you."

Ben's mind races, trying to come up with an excuse. "I don't know. Neither of us really s-saw it, you know what I mean?" His voice goes in and out on the word 'saw,' but fortunately, Chris doesn't seem to notice.

Chris nods, happy with that answer. The conversation ends there, and they both get back to their work, and Ben couldn't be happier about that. He is not good at these kind of conversations, but that was fairly obvious.

//

Leslie could not have played that worse. Well, maybe she could have. She drank an entire bottle of vinegar once on a date, and broke her kneecap on another. Not to mention the other stuff...

Except that didn't really apply, because she and him couldn't go on a date. That's how this whole mess started.

Cindy is a tall, pretty, FUNNY brunette. So what? She's blonde and passionate, thst must count for something... right?

Yeah, it definitely does. Ben looks at her... the way she looks at waffles, honestly. And she probably looks at him the same way.

Cindy seems nice, though. Maybe she'll befriend her a little more, if she can.

//

Ann walks into Ben's office, not bothering to knock or state her presence. What she has to say can't wait.

"Oh. Hi." Ben says, confused.

"Hey." She grabs the seat next to him and sits down.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can actually."

Ben pauses, and after an awkward silence, he gestures for her to continue.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Are you trying to make Leslie jealous with Cindy?"

"W-what?"

"Don't give me that. I know you like her, its so obvious."

"Cindy and I aren't dating. Who told you about her anyway?" He tries to ask without falling apart in an awkward stammer.

"I came to pick up Leslie for lunch and Tom won't shut up about 'Ben's hot new girlfriend'. She says in air quotes.

"Leslie knows she and I are just friends. Wait, back up. How exactly is it obvious?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, kind of." He retorts.

Ann ignores the question, and her nose scrunches up in confusion. "How did you two become friends anyway?"

"I don't know." He scrambles for the second time that day for an excuse. This is getting annoying, having to forget his feelings and stay focused on the issues at hand by coming up with excuses to explain away his awkwardness. "We went on a date, we ended up talking, but neither or us felt that kind of connection, and I guess we thought we would be really good friends."

"Huh." Ann says. "Less complicated than I thought it would be."

"I guess." Ben holds back a smile.

"I have to go take Leslie to lunch, so see you."

"See you."

//

Ben ends up working late that night. Another weird day, and nothing to show for it, so he can at least get some work done. He was a little behind anyway from talking to Leslie and Chris and Ann and Cindy. Wow, he talked to a lot of people today.

Pawnee has really opened Ben up. In Indy, or any other town that wasn't as... unique, he would have still been these empty shell of the man he used to be, hiding away anywhere he could from the spotlight so he could correct his mistakes.

Pawnee's the first place where he didn't feel indebted to everyone who crossed his path, because of his past mistakes.

It's comforting and unnerving all at once.


	4. Meeting Sarah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben meets Sarah. April and Ron talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How boring is this fic on a scale of 1-10? Comments please xD

Cindy spends a lot of her free time at City Hall now. She always thought it was lame staying for longer than she had to, and it was, but she enjoyed spending her lunch hour messing with Ben and teasing him about Leslie. 

Now he's going to meet Sarah.

She's not nervous. She isn't. It isn't like she's introducing her girlfriend to her father. He's not her father, and Sarah's not her girlfriend, as much as she wants her to be.

Sarah's a sweet girl, but she has that sassiness that made Cindy fall for her. 

It seems mutual; she has that slight doubt in her mind like everyone probably does in these situations, but there's got to be something in the way they smile at each other when they're together. 

"I can hear you thinking." Ben says, breaking the silence. 

"Oh, yeah?" She plays along. "What am I thinking about?"

"Since it's you, I assume you're plotting my murder." He deadpans. 

"Guilty. I've already picked a burial site." 

"Ha ha. Seriously though." He turns to her, genuinely concerned. "You okay?" 

"Fine. Just feels weird that I'm driving you to where I work so you can meet my crush. Especially since it's only a block away from City Hall." 

"Ooh, your crush? Are we in 6th grade now?" Ben tries to lighten the mood. 

"You wish." She huffs.

"You don't talk much about Sarah." Ben says, as if he just noticed it. She doesn't, though, maybe because they're always at his place of work. Maybe if they hung out more at her department, it would be different.

"That's because I'm always making fun of you about Leslie." 

"Touché." Ben smiles at her. 

"Seriously, she's way too good for you." Cindy jokes. 

"Very funny. So what's this Sarah like?" Ben asks, as she pulls into the parking lot. 

Cindy pauses. How would she describe her? Sweet, but sassy? Seems too basic. Funny? She feels like there's a perfect word and she just needs to find it, but she doesn't have time for that. 

She backs into her parking space and opens her door. 

"She's just... different. I've dated a lot of jerks, men and women, but she has a quality that I've never seen before. Sure, she may be similar to a lot of people, but when it's her it just makes more sense than it would if it was someone else." She replies as they start walking. 

"I can think of so many ways to make fun of you for that, it's amazing." 

"I regret our entire friendship." She glares at him.

He chuckles as they walk in. 

The department is mostly empty, everyone's probably busy. There's a private office in the back that he can only assume belongs to their boss.

There's a pale redhead in the back who looks up, sees Cindy and smiles. Then she glances over to Ben and her face contorts to a grimace. 

Cindy lifts her hand to wave the girl over. She hesitantly gets out of her seat and walks over to them. 

"Hey." 

"Sarah, this is Ben. Ben, Sarah." Cindy gestures between the two of them.

Ben and Sarah shake hands, and she pipes up.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?" Sarah asks, a little too nonchalantly. 

Cindy bursts out laughing and Ben rolls his eyes at her amusement. 

"Oh, God no." Cindy tries to catch her breath. "We're just friends." 

Ben turns to Cindy and shakes his head. "Well, don't look too upset." 

Sarah looks relieved to learn that they aren't together. He'll make sure to bring that up later, or maybe he'll mess with Cindy and say she was flirting with him. She's done that to him before with Leslie. 

"Yeah, Cindy's like that. It's weirdly easy to get used to." Sarah chuckles. 

"I've noticed." 

They end up talking through the whole lunch hour. Ben learns that Sarah is a lot like Leslie, very passionate about her job, and he can tell it's very important to her. When Sarah expresses this, Cindy fights the grimace threatening to appear, and he notices. It's the same expression he's become personally familiar with on his own face over these past few weeks. 

// 

When they get back to the car, Cindy speaks up. "So, what do you think of her?" 

"Why, Cindy Miller. Are you actually asking for my opinion? I'm flattered." He bats his eyes at her in mock swooning and she whacks him on the shoulder. 

"Shut up." 

"Well, I mean, she seems nice. You two are very similar." He says, recalling when they teased him about his "boring" state auditor days. "What's more interesting than crunching numbers?" he had asked, but it only made them laugh louder. 

// 

Leslie was having a good day. She started a new project for the Parks Department. It was really just paperwork about park attendance, but she loves paperwork. 

Tom was being really annoying today. He was on the phone talking very loudly about how great he was, which wasn't surprising, the guy has a pretty big ego, but it was giving her a headache and putting a damper on her good day. 

"I'm telling you, Jean-Ralphio, we're single because the ladies are intimidated to date such awesome people." 

Leslie rolls her eyes at that. 

Fortunately, he hangs up a few minutes later after talking about all his new business ideas. 

Ann's hospital was packed that day, so she didn't have time to go with Leslie to lunch. Maybe she could call her friend Sarah? 

She pulls out her phone and dials. Sarah picks up on the 3rd ring. 

"Hi, Leslie." 

"Hey. Are you busy?"

"Not really, just wrapping some stuff up for the county commissioner." 

"Want to eat waffles at J.J.'s?"

// 

April walks over to Ron's office. As much as she hates talking to people about things, she doesn't like the weird change going on. Ben has this weird new friend, who actually isn't bad, they're pretty similar, but she obviously has some iffy choices in friends. Ben's pretty lame, after all. And no one will stop talking about it. Ok, so he has a friend. As surprising as that is, it doesn't need to be on the damn Washington Post or anything. 

She's glared at them menacingly multiple times and told them to shut up, and they do, but it doesn't last for long, because Tom inevitably makes some sexual comment and it starts all over again.

She knows that eventually some celebrity they annoyingly adore is going to be caught in some scandal and this will all blow over, but enough is enough. 

She opens the door without knocking and bangs her head on the wall in exhaustion. "I hate everything." 

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, putting the swan he's carving down to look at April. He couldn't care less about what was going on, but he did feel a bit of kinship with April, it's why he didnt get mad when she burst in the room. 

"No one will shut up about that Cindy girl." 

"Who?" 

"The brunette that's always with Ben. Tom won't stop talking about 'Ben's new girlfriend', and Donna keeps giving them this side eye and saying 'Well done, Wyatt' and its so gross."

"What do you want me to do about it?" 

"Nothing, I just want to hide in here for a little bit." April groans. 

"Knock yourself out." Normally he would have said no, but he knows she won't try to do anything abhorrent like starting up a conversation or babbling on and on about how great the government is. 

// 

Leslie speed walks down the hallway, almost running into Ben. She stops to avoid crashing into him, the awkwardness level already excruciatingly high. 

"Oh. Hi." Ben says in surprise. 

"Hey. Where's Cindy?" Leslie asked, trying to fill the dead air. 

"We're not joined at the hip, you know." he chuckles, then grimaces, hoping he didn't hurt her. 

"Oh. Right." She blushes. 

"Where you headed?" 

"The, uh, bathroom. The whiz palace, as I like to call it. I've got to run there. Not that it's an emergency or anything. Um, bye!" She runs off, whispering a long line of obscenities to herself at the way she handled that. 

// 

Cindy gets home and closes her front door the moment she gets inside, leaning against it while catching her breath in her exhausted state. She slides down against the door to the ground with her knees in front of her and her head in her hands. 

It was a really long day. It wasn't even a bad one, she's just so tired. And bored. So bored. Nothing interesting had been happening lately. 

She's annoyed because she can't date Sarah, happy that she's made new friends, and overwhelmed because her job is so demanding sometimes. 

She aimlessly gets into her pajamas and collapses on her bed, quickly falling into a deep slumber. 

// 

Leslie decides to pull another all-nighter. She loves to do paperwork in her bed while listening to music, so it worked out perfectly. Plus, she didn't feel like sleeping anyway. When she did, she dreamed of work and Ben and her friends and it was a lot. 

Especially the dreams about Ben. They've started to get, well, a little less than appropriate. Leslie blushes a little just thinking about it. She's trying not to over-analyze that one, but its causing her to under-analyze it, which may be a good thing because she's really trying not to think about it. 

But before she descends down that rabbit hole, she changes her focus back to the task at hand.

// 

Ben had a pretty good day. He got to revenge-tease Cindy about Sarah, and he didn't have any meetings today. The only weird thing was that awkward interaction with Leslie, but you kind of need to look for the positives. 

The moment he walks in, he sees April and Andy running around everywhere. 

"Hey roomie." He claps Ben on the back hard, making him yelp. "We're having a pillow fight AND a water balloon fight. At the same time. Also there's glitter. Want to join?" Andy exclaims excitedly.

"Babe, no, he'd ruin it." April screams, giggling as a water balloon hits her in the face. She grabs another one and throws it at Ben, hitting him square in the face at point-blank range. 

He looks around at the mess of glitter, water, and pillows, groaning at the mess he'll have to clean up tomorrow. 

"I need to get out of this house," he mutters as he escapes to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you love my "Leslie and Sarah are also friends" plot twist? Lmao. also next chapter'll have lots of conflict. 😎


	5. Mission Accomplished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy and Ann team up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this, hope you enjoy!

Leslie sits down in a bar seat at Sullivan's to wait for Lindsay. They've made up, sort of, but she'll never be her best friend again. That's Ann's job now. 

Besides, they just got out of jail for attacking each other, so, the possibility of being best friends again was pretty unlikely. 

It doesn't matter. She has new friends now. Well, the same friends, but they'd do anything for her, and vice versa. 

She's not the same woman she was 5 years ago. Outwardly, yes, she's still that workaholic who worked tirelessly for what she believed in. But when something or someone in your life changes, you have to adjust. 

And she did. 

It just sucks to think about the way Lindsay abandoned her all those years ago. And she's changed so much- she looks down on Pawnee, and Leslie can't help but feel a little mediocre compared to someone with such a glamorous life. 

Before she descends too deep down that rabbit hole, Lindsay shows up, dropping her large black purse next to her on the ground before taking a seat.

"Wow. This place sure brings back memories," Lindsay says as she catches her breath. 

Leslie orders beer for both of them silently and turns to her. "So, how are you doing?" 

"Great! Eagleton is so different from Pawnee, even the smells are different!" Lindsay says, scrunching up her nose. 

Leslie stifles an eye roll; as annoying as Lindsay was being, she wasn't naive enough to assume she'd switch back to her old self that quickly. 

"It's so easy to get dates in Eagleton too! Well, when you're someone like me..." She chuckles. "How are you?" 

"I'm doing great, Ann and I are working on that park. Haven't dated in a while though." Leslie replies, sipping her beer. 

"You just need to put yourself out there more, wear a little more makeup, go out more." Lindsay suggests, taking a large gulp out of her own beer.

Leslie laughs awkwardly and tries to change the subject. "That's not really me, I like working." 

"You haven't changed at all." Lindsay teases. 

"I guess I haven't," Leslie says. "You have, though." 

"Guilty." She gives Leslie a shy smile that she returns. It's good to see there's still a little bit of her old self in her. 

They spend the rest of the time switching between awkward and nostalgic about the old days while drinking their beer. 

// 

The next day, Leslie drives Lindsay to the Parks Department so they could look around and catch up. It's getting a little less awkward, she's seeing the old Lindsay more and more, except for the occasional snobby or passive aggressive comment.

Leslie can tell she's trying, so she lets it go.

Tom spots them first and runs over. 

"Lindsay! Did you show everyone my résumé?" 

"No, I uh, didn't know who I was supposed to give it to." That's a lie, she honestly just forgot and thought Tom was a little strange anyway. 

"Oh." Tom doesn't even try to hide his look of disappointment, but it doesn't last long anyway, as he quickly picks himself back up by making suggestive comments to Lindsay. Leslie ushers her away from him to save her. 

// 

"You know that Dan guy?" She asks Leslie once they get to the safety of her office. 

"You mean Ben?" 

"Yeah. Is he single?" 

Leslie freezes. "I'm not sure. It's not like we ever discuss that kind of thing. You know, sex. Ever. Like, never. Are we supposed to talk about that? He's my boss anyway, that would be really weird, right? Don't you agree?" Leslie rambles, quickly and loudly.

"Right." Lindsay suspiciously narrows her eyes at her babbling, but doesn't comment. 

"You want to date him or something?" Leslie tries to ask casually. 

"He's cute. I mean, I doubt he'd turn me down." She says, a little arrogantly as her hands move to her hips, but again, Leslie lets it go. 

"Oh, I just remembered I have to go to the whiz palace. And I'm bringing my phone with me, because I always do that. It's not weird. So I'll do that, and be right back!" Leslie chirps, before grabbing her phone and running out of there. 

Lindsay just stares after her.

// 

"Ann! Help!" 

"What's wrong?" Ann asks. 

"Lindsay's going to date Ben!!" Leslie groans, smacking her head against the wall in dread. "Ow!" 

"As in, she asked him on a date and he said yes?" Ann questions, not entirely convinced. After all, she did blow him off earlier when he corrected her on his name.

"No! And he could have just as easily asked her, Ann! But she said he was cute and asked me if he's single and oh my god they're going to make out and have babies!" Leslie says loudly. But she's allowed to feel crappy about this. Lindsay already has this glamorous life, everything she could ever want, does she have to have Ben too? It feels like all she's doing is taking from her. Even though that's not entirely true, she can't stop this endless mental spiral. 

"First of all, that's not true because he's so obviously in love with you." To the point where it's a little pathetic, but Ann doesn't say that. 

"And second, you're getting a little ahead of yourself there." 

"What do I do, Ann?" 

"There's not really anything you can do, Leslie. It's his choice, and do you really think he's going to say yes after seeing the way she was treating you?" Ann is a little jealous that they're trying to repair their friendship, honestly. Even though Leslie's the most loyal person she knows, she still has the fear of being abandoned for Lindsay. It's irrational, and she'll (hopefully) get over it eventually, but the feeling is there, and she doesn't know how to stop it. 

"Ugh, Ann, you naive, gorgeous little lamb. I doubt that he's in love with me. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and be as civil as possible even though I really don't want them to make out and have babies, so I'm going to keep my freaking out on the inside. Sound like a plan?" 

Ann knows there's no convincing Leslie when she's going insane.  
"Sure." They hang up. 

Ann dials a number she's just recently obtained.

"Cindy?" 

"Hey, Ann, what's up?" 

"We have a problem." 

// 

Cindy and Ann run into the Parks Department after Ann's early shift ends to see Ben and Leslie talking (or what they both know is flirting and they're too oblivious to realize it) and Lindsay inching closer to their conversation. 

They take one look at each other and nod in unspoken agreement. 

Ann walks over to Lindsay, Cindy following close behind. 

"Hi, Lindsay!" 

"What do you want?" Lindsay snipes at Ann. This is the person Leslie's trying to repair her friendship with? Funny how all of Ann's insecurities about losing Leslie magically faded away within seconds of interaction with this woman. But there's another task at hand, so Ann diverts her attention to that.

"We just thought it was super cool that you direct Eagleton's Parks Department!" Ann says a little too loudly, causing Leslie to nervously glance over at them and back to Ben. 

They've really got it bad for each other. 

Lindsay narrows her eyes but continues the conversation. "I guess." 

Cindy breaks the silence. "So, would you cut off your little toe for a million dollars?" She says in her trademark nonchalant way. 

Lindsay looks at her like she's grown two heads, but it does successfully start a conversation and amuses Cindy, so it's a win-win.

"What?" Lindsay asks, laughing. 

"It's something I saw online." Cindy replies, glancing around the room. 

"What have you been looking up?" Ann asks incredulously. 

"The usual." She deadpans and they all start giggling.

// 

"That wiffle ball league was... really impressive." Ben says.

"Well, it was a team effort." Leslie answers modestly. 

Ben smiles and they look over at Cindy, Lindsay, and Ann engaged in conversation. 

"Would you look at that?" 

"Yeah, I guess Lindsay's old self is still deep down there somewhere." Leslie frowns. "Deep, deep down," which makes Ben chuckle. 

"When did you guys stop talking?"

"Well, like I said, she took the job and disappeared." Leslie replies, looking a little sad.

"Right." 

"I can't help but feel..." Leslie shakes her head. "Nothing. It's not important."

"No, what was it?" He didn't want to pry, but Leslie looked really upset, and if he could do anything to help it, he would. 

Leslie takes a deep breath. "I can't help but feel... kind of, ordinary compared to her, I guess." She looks down at the ground, abashed at her admission. 

Ben's silent, but he looks at her shocked, like she's just told him she's the Zodiac Killer.

"You saved an entire town with the Harvest Festival, Leslie. Over 80,000 people came." He tries to reassure her. 

"Well, it was a team effort, like the wiffle ball league." 

"No, Leslie. It was you. You've done more for this department in 8 years than anyone else could do in 100." 

Leslie smiles, one of her bright ones that makes Ben weak in the knees. "Thanks. I needed that." 

"I know you did." 

// 

Cindy's lunch hour ends, so she, unfortunately, couldn't continue helping Ann. 

"Listen, Ann, I've got to go, but call me if you need anything." Cindy says, getting her stuff together. 

// 

Ann goes home and changes her clothes. She relaxes in her house for a little while, but comes back to the Parks Department to grab her phone that she forgot. It's the end of the day, so most people have probably left. She's walking by Ben and Chris' office after retrieving it when a hand clamps over her mouth. 

Ann screams but it's muffled.

"Be quiet," Cindy says. "Listen." 

They hide by the door.

"You're right, Chris is a lot." Ben says. 

"Yeah. He is... intense. And I only met him today." Lindsay steps closer to him. 

Ben laughs and she reaches out to touch his arm. 

"Do you maybe, want to get out of here?" 

"Uh, sorry, what?" Ben awkwardly asks for clarification.

"God, he's such an idiot sometimes," Cindy mutters. Ann can't help but agree with her on that one. 

"You know what I mean." Lindsay says coyly. "Come on. You know you want to." 

"You want to put a stop to this?" Ann asks. 

"I kind of want to see what he's going to say." Cindy replies, so Ann stays with her and watches. 

"Uh, well, I'm kind of interested in someone else," Ben says, making Ann's eyes widen. 

"That's okay. I bet I can change your mind." Lindsay smiles at him hopefully.

"Okay, now." Cindy says. 

They burst in and Ben yelps in shock but is mostly relieved that they saved him.

Lindsay looks pissed, though. 

"Hey, Ben! Do you need a ride home?" Ann asks him. 

"No, I'm good." He mouths 'thank you' to them when Lindsay looks away. "Did you need anything?" 

"Nope, we were just looking for something." Cindy says. "And it is not here, apparently. That sucks." She mouths 'you're welcome' back to him and grins evilly.

Lindsay shuffles out of the room awkwardly. Mission accomplished. 

"If you want, we can go get dinner." Cindy offers, and Ann waves the both of them goodbye. 

"Nah, it's okay, I was planning to get some work done and turn in early. 

"God, you're so lame." 

He rolls his eyes as she leaves the office. 

// 

Cindy comes back to the Parks Department to talk to Leslie. Ben mentioned before, his favorite thing about her was how hard she works. As much as she's sick of their pining, she relates to it, so she can't really complain. 

She spots Leslie in her office, sitting down at her desk while typing furiously at the computer. 

"What are you doing?" Cindy stands by the door and calls out. 

"Oh, hi, Cindy. I was just finishing this Parks proposal." Leslie replies, giving her a warm smile as she pushes a strand of hair out of her face. 

"Cool. You want to get dinner or something? I'm bored." 

"Sure, why not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo cliff hanger (not really but shut up) 😂 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	6. The Same Boat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie eats with Cindy and converses with Sarah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its so short-
> 
> heheh that's what he said
> 
> also rip plot

Cindy meets Leslie at JJ’s. Cindy was a huge fan of breakfast food as well, so it didn’t bother her.

She orders bacon and eggs and gets to eating her food. She skipped lunch, after all. Of course, it was worth it, because drama. Drama's amazing.

They sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes, munching on their meals.

“So… how are you?” Leslie asks tentatively.

“Fine," Cindy says, feeling a burst of energy from her food.

"You and Ben seem to be hitting it off," Leslie says, hoping to start some kind of conversation.

"I could say the same about you guys." She replies coolly.

"W-what?" Leslie stammers. She didn't mean….

"Don't lie to me. You have a crush on him, don't you?" She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at Leslie, holding back a smirk at her reddening face.

"How could you think- no! He is...terrible face-wise, and how dare you accuse me of such a thing- damn it." Leslie takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. She breaks eye contact with Cindy, looking down at her hands, fidgeting nervously.

"Yes." She says sheepishly. "How did you know?"

Cindy scoffs, amused. "How didn't I know? I saw you guys earlier today."

Flashes of Ben reassuring Leslie about her abilities flood back into her mind, making her smile warmly. They didn't do anything, though? Leslie tilts her head in confusion, not quite getting the point.

"So?" She replies.

This time Cindy doesn't hold back the smirk. "You two were totally undressing each other with your eyes- which by the way is the most cliché... and kind of creepy thing ever, but it's accurate, so, what gives?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's kind of- scratch that. Majorly a nerd."

Leslie gestures for her to go on, not understanding where she's going with this.

"Is that kind of your type?"

Oh. Leslie feels kind of stupid now. "I don't know. He's just cute." She says, her sheepish demeanor making a comeback.

"Gross." Cindy snorts.

"You asked!" Leslie retorts playfully. Her expression turns serious. "What about you, you dating anyone?"

"Kind of interested in someone, but nope. Perpetually single." Cindy runs a hand through her long hair and does a peace sign with the other.

"Can relate." Leslie sighs. "I talked about Ben, sort of, now it's your turn."

"To talk about Ben?" Cindy stalls.

"Ha ha." Leslie deadpans.

"She's just a girl I work with. But you know, the rules..." Cindy trails off and Leslie's eyes fill with understanding.

"Yep, I'm pretty familiar with _that_ rule." She takes a sip of her soda.

"I'm her boss, so it can't happen. And you're his employee. Looks like we're in the same boat," Cindy says, raising her glass.

Leslie lifts hers and they clink. "Right." She sighs.

They talk for a little longer, already becoming comfortable with each other. Cindy makes her sarcastic jokes and makes fun of Leslie about her crush; Leslie makes fun of Cindy about hers. It quickly feels very familiar.

When Cindy leaves, Leslie pulls out her phone to send a text.

**L - She definitely likes you.**

//

Ben walks into his shared home to see April and Andy engaged in a hardcore make-out session.

No stranger to their antics, he sighs and goes straight to his room.

//

Leslie knocks rapidly on Sarah's door. It opens pretty quickly.

"Hey." Sarah greets her, leaning against the door. Her red hair is done up in a messy bun and she's wearing pajamas, but she's like Leslie in the sense that she barely sleeps.

They're standing there in silence, having both spaced out. Sarah tilts her head and comes out of it. She hesitantly glances from left to right and back to Leslie. "Want to come in?"

Leslie silently agrees and they seat themselves on her couch.

"So what was that text all about?" Sarah asks, grabbing her remote and turning on the TV. A man on the Food Network is teaching some weird recipe, but she pays no attention. She just likes having a little background noise. Feels more secure.

"Cindy definitely likes you. You have nothing to worry about."

Sarah laughs. "How do you know?"

"We had dinner," Leslie replies, and Sarah's about to raise an eyebrow in jealously before she speaks up again. "Platonic, calm down."

"I knew that." Sarah lies. "I'm not sure anymore. Maybe she's just nice, and if came off as flirty."

Leslie laughs. Sarah narrows her eyes at her, offended, but Leslie pats her shoulder comfortingly.

"Have you met her? When has she ever been nice?" Leslie questions, clearly amused.

"Yeah, that was a pretty shitty excuse," Sarah admits. "I still think there's got to be some other reason."

Leslie's noticed this before. Sarah's a strong person, but Leslie has developed an awareness to her secret insecurities, which, evidently, aren't so secret.

The worst part is she can see some of these insecurities in herself. Yes, she's a confident woman, but she burns out and has a long list of doubts of her own; when she couldn't come up with an idea for a project after the Harvest Festival was a big one.

Sometimes she even doubts Ben's interest in her.

But, it didn't matter, sadly. Because of that _stupid fucking rule._

"Me too. I can't even tell anymore what's going on with Ben. It feels obvious, but, you know." Leslie hopes Sarah understands.

Sarah nods. "I wish I could reassure you, but I only met the man like once and I briefly thought he was dating Cindy, so..." She trails off.

"Apparently they aren't dating."

"I gathered that," Sarah replies and laughs. It quickly subsides as her face contorts to a frown. "I still feel weirdly jealous though?" She scratches her head. "They became friends so quickly... and you can tell they've talked about some heavy stuff. It just drives me so damn crazy thinking about what."

"Maybe us," Leslie suggests and Sarah shrugs.

"Maybe."

The same boat, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> expect the next chapter to be longer cause wooo stuff do be happening


	7. Absolute Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy gets some good news, but why is Ben acting weird about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to meg for volunteering to beta!

"Ben, I have news." Cindy barges into his office. He was scribbling something on a legal pad, but he drops his pen and starts talking before she can make a quip about the nerdiness of that.

"Okay...." He says, albeit a little tentatively. "What's going on?"

"Let me walk you through what happened." Cindy claps her hands together in excitement while Ben chuckles at the way she's carrying on. She glares at him, and he quickly falls silent.

He sits back down at his desk, and she follows, plopping herself on the chair in front of it.

"So, I was sitting at my desk having a normal day..."

//

Cindy groans as her boss walks off. He's so annoying sometimes, especially now, when he's giving her dumb paperwork.

Her head's resting against the desk, while her eyes are getting heavier by the second. She's quickly falling into a deep slumber when-

"Hey, Cindy!" Sarah chirps.

"Ugh. I was just about to fall asleep." Cindy groans again, not wanting to lift her head, so she turns it a little to look at Sarah. She softens a little just from their eye contact. "What's up?"

Sarah laughs. "Well, we ARE at work." She shakes her head in amusement. Her eyes widened as if she just remembered what she was going to say.

"I was wondering... if we could talk?" Sarah's eyes drift around a little nervously.

Cindy's still a little sleepy and cranky, but it's Sarah, so she instead sighs and lifts her head to look at her.

"I'll get you some coffee." She glances over at the coffee pot, and Cindy gives her a thumbs up.

"Successfully bribed." She replies, laying her head down again.

"Nuh-uh. Head up." She orders Cindy, and she obliges.

She pulls a nearby chair over to the desk and sits down. "I, uh, got a- kind of a- well, job offer."

Cindy freezes but keeps a calm demeanor. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. It's something I've always wanted to do. Department of Housing and Urban Development here in Pawnee."

"Really? Don't you need some weird-ass degree for that?" She questions but instantly regrets it, thinking it might offend her.

"My degree kind of lets me do whatever I want." Sarah chooses her words carefully, hoping what she's saying makes sense.

"Sweet. So are you going to take it?"

"Thinking about it, leaning towards yes. What do you think?"

Cindy feels a surge of pride for the fact that Sarah came to her first for her opinion.

"Well, is the pay good?"

"About the same as here. A little better, I guess. That's not really what I'm thinking about, though."

"Oh?" Cindy says, curious. "What's the problem, then?" She senses Sarah's reluctance to speak as she sees her glance around the room again, her eyes falling on the people inhabiting the area. She subtly gestures to a nearby supply closet, and Sarah smiles warmly at the idea.

As they walk, she can think of some other things she'd like to do with her there besides talking, but that's neither here nor there.

They stand in the supply closet, waiting for something. But what? Neither one of them knows.

They can both feel the intimacy of the moment and are both fully aware of how close they're standing to each other. Neither Cindy nor Sarah make an effort to take a step back.

"Sarah?" Cindy says.

"Yeah? Oh." Sarah pulls a nervous lip between her teeth and it takes every ounce of her self-control not to stare at it.

"So what was the thing? You know, the reason we're here in the first place?" Cindy jokes, but it falls flat.

"Well, you know, the rules... if I took the job that wouldn't be a problem anymore."

Cindy's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't saying... what she thought she was saying?" It couldn't be.

"What?" She asks dumbly.

"Oh no. Did I read this all wrong? Okay, let's pretend this never happened-

Sarah's rambling gave Cindy a rush of confidence and adrenaline, causing her to pull her into a kiss on impulse.

She lets out an adorable noise filled with shock but quickly returns the kiss with the same enthusiasm.

Cindy pulls back- or maybe Sarah does- neither of them can tell anymore.

"Well, that was-

"Fantastic." Cindy interrupts.

"Agreed."

//

"Whoa. So wait, what?"

"Do I need to retell the whole story?" Cindy asks, annoyed like usual.

Ben doesn't respond; he looks to have spaced out.

"You good?"

"Yeah, sorry, I was drawing up wedding plans in my head. What kind of cake do you want? I'm thinking chocolate." He pretends to say thoughtfully.

"Ew, Ben, gross." She satirizes.

"I'm just planning ahead." He says with a look of innocence. She sighs, and a voice sounds from outside the door.

"Can I come in yet?"

"Oh, yeah, Sarah. Come on in."

"Hey." She smiles shyly at Cindy, then turns to Ben. "Hey, dude."  
Ben notes the differences in how she addresses Cindy versus him but stays silent about it.

"So.... did you accept the job offer?"

Sarah nods and then smirks. "I kind of have to now."

Cindy snorts and crosses her arms. "I do NOT remember you complaining."

"Oh, shut up."

Their banter makes Ben feel invisible, but at least he has some material to use to mess with Cindy later on. "Uh, hello? I am still here."

"Whatever."

//

"Guys, did you hear about Cindy and that redhead?" Donna says, up for some gossip.

"Yeah, I saw them making out earlier. It was hot." Tom says.

"Ew, Tom," April says, scrunching up her nose at him in disgust.

"What? I'm just stating facts. Dammit, I wish I recorded it so I could show Jean-Ralphio.

"Wait... what?" Leslie asks. "The redhead? You mean Sarah?"

"I don't know her. But she's hot."

"LET'S KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE!" Ron bellows from his office, never one to want to hear people talking. Especially gossiping. He's said it before, and he'll say it again; he's not interested in caring about people.

"You okay, Knope?" Donna asks, a weird look on her face.

"I have to go make a phone call," she replies dismissively to get rid of her concern.

"Alright," Donna says, staring at her nails.

//

"You finally told Cindy? That's awesome! You're probably busy, but that's amazing, and I'm so happy for you!" Leslie's voice cracks while she blinked back tears of joy. She takes a deep breath and starts speaking again. "I love you, call me later!" She practically yells and hangs up.

Although it sucks that Sarah didn't answer her phone, Leslie was confident that the voicemail got her message across.

//

Ben's having lunch with Cindy and Sarah at JJ's when it happens again. 

The feeling of invisibility. 

He was happy for them at first, but this was getting annoying. Just because they're together doesn't mean they're the only people left on earth. 

He tries to piece together what happened in his mind while Cindy and Sarah are being adorable. 

The first thing that happened was he had asked Sarah about her new job, and she talked about it earnestly for a few minutes, with Cindy making her usual sarcastic jokes and Sarah ignoring her usual antics. 

Oh. 

That's what happened. 

She eventually addressed her and then they started being weird again. 

Lovely. 

Ben's contemplating sneaking away from them, both to see if they would notice and also just to get away from the weirdness in general, when he sees a flash of blonde hair from the corner of his eye.

He immediately whips his head to the left to follow that flash of blonde, already knowing who it was. Leslie's looking around for a free booth when she spots them. 

He waves her over nonchalantly, then turning his head even further out of his friends' view and mouthing "help." 

// 

Leslie's go-to place during her lunch hour (or any time, really) was of course, JJ's. She didn't understand why anyone would ever eat anything other than breakfast food.

She spots them as she's looking around. Cindy and Sarah talking with Ben off to the side staring at her. 

She catches his eye and as he waves her over, she can barely make out what he's trying to ask her, but inevitably realizes he needs help. 

It's kind of cute, she thinks before she mentally chastises herself. 

Leslie nods and makes her way over to them.

"Hey, Leslie!" Ben says, a little loudly, but presumably to catch their attention. 

Cindy and Sarah finally take their eyes off each other and acknowledge the new presence. 

"Want to eat with us?" Sarah asks her. 

Leslie gives her a warm smile that makes Ben's heart skip a beat or ten, and sits down in the spot beside him.

// 

Her attention is on the waffle, and Cindy and Sarah are focusing on each other once again, so Ben is sitting there, a little awkwardly, wondering where he went wrong. Oh. Assuming Leslie's full attention wouldn't be on her waffles. 

It's kind of adorable, actually. 

Leslie finally finishes her last waffle and turns her attention to him. 

Finally. 

"So what did you need help with?" 

"Wow." He chuckles at her. "Them, actually." He looks at her, hoping his expression would make her understand. 

Fortunately, she does. "What- oh." 

"Yeah." He chuckles again, this time very self-deprecatingly. 

"Is Benji feeling a little jealous?" She teases. 

"What? No?" He abruptly replies. 

"Are you sure?" She asks, a little more seriously. 

"No, shut up." He teases back, poking her side. Uh-oh. Human Disaster Ben shows up. Did he go too far? 

If he did, she doesn't show it, and instead, her tongue darts out at him in mock annoyance. 

His eyes widen, and he keeps his eyes locked on hers to avoid that becoming his focal point. 

"It's almost time to go back." Leslie says while looking at her watch. 

Her thigh accidentally brushes across his as he's sipping his Sprite. 

He bursts into a fit of coughing and it's soon soothed by the feeling of a small hand rubbing his back. 

"You alright?" She asks, concerned. 

Ben's breathing normally now, extremely aware of the fact that her hand is still on his back. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

Her hand falls from him and he bites back a groan of displeasure at the loss of her touch. 

"We better go." Leslie says, and they stand up in silence. 

He walks her to her car and forces himself not to watch her drive off, missing the lovesick smile she gives him as she gets in. 

// 

Cindy's dropping Sarah off at City Hall when she speaks up. 

"Hey, maybe we should cool it in front of Ben for a little while. He seems a bit uncomfortable." Sarah says. 

"What do you mean?" Cindy says, narrowing her eyes. 

"I don't know, we kind of ignore him sometimes and he's probably not a fan of excessive PDA. 

"That's crazy talk, he's happy for us." Cindy tries to reassure her. 

Maybe it was an insecurity thing? She reaches for Sarah to kiss her cheek. 

Sarah sighs happily. "Alright. Well, if you're sure." 

// 

This was getting ridiculous. Cindy gets it, he's non-confrontational, but does he have to give her that same clipped "I'm not mad" whenever she asks him?

She bursts into his office the same way she did a few days before, but it's not a happy arrival. 

"We need to talk." She says, trying to keep her cool. 

"Do we?" He says, clearly pained by her presence. She'd find it amusing in a different context, but there are more pressing matters at hand at the moment. 

"Why are you mad at me?" 

Ben looks perplexed. "I'm not mad?" He poses it like a question, making her wonder if he even knows if he's mad or not. It's the first time since he's said it that he looks genuinely confused. 

"Then what gives?" 

"What did I do?" 

"Oh, my God, you are useless!" She rubs her temples in an effort to calm down. 

"You came in here and started yelling at me, not even bothering to explain what happened. Am I really the useless one here?" Ben blurts out while narrowing his eyes. 

Cindy's mouth pops open and closes in shock at his outburst. "Well, we've confirmed it. You are mad." She crosses her arms at him. 

"I'm not mad." 

"Stop lying." 

"I'm not mad at you!" He yells, standing up from his chair. 

"Wow, I'm so convinced." She rolls her eyes. 

"I know you don't mean to, but you're being really obnoxious right now." He looks away from her. 

"Well, that's kind of the point, so yes, I did mean to. But stop trying to change the subject. You can't exactly be mad at me when I'm trying to fix whatever you're mad at me for." 

"Look, I'm not mad at you, okay?" He takes a deep breath. "I'm mad at me."

"What?" 

"I'm mad at me, because maybe I'm a little jealous, and I know it's going to turn into me resenting you and I don't want to be that guy." 

Cindy sighs as he drops his head into his hands. 

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." 

"What?" 

"You don't want to be that guy, but you want to be the one that avoids the problem and lets it manifest into this? And what are you even jealous about?" 

He gives her a look and she understands. "Oh." 

"Yeah." 

"I get that you want it to work out with Leslie, but how exactly does that disrupt my life?" She winces at the way that came out. She sounds like a selfish asshole.

Now Ben's pissed. "It doesn't, but shouldn't you care a little bit?" 

"I do, Ben! I really do! Ann and I saved you from Lindsay, I had dinner with Leslie, and by the way, we did talk about you. So there's that." 

Ben breaks their rage-filled eye contact and softens. "Does that really apply now? Things have changed." He says, calmly, a little too calmly, scaring her. 

"Maybe not. But I do care." 

"What happens when you stop? What happens when you and Sarah finish forming your little bubble and don't have time for anyone else? What happens then, Cindy? Huh?" He gets in her face, but this time his voice isn't filled with fury. He's just sad. 

"What makes you think that's going to happen?" Cindy asks, hurt. How could he think that she would abandon him after all they've been through? They haven't exactly been lifelong friends, but they've gotten close this past month or so, didn't that count for something?" Apparently not… 

"Didn't you see what happened at lunch today? I sat there, feeling like an idiot watching you two engaged in your own conversation. It's like I didn't even exist!" He slams his hand down on the desk, papers blowing to the side by the impact. He lifts his hand quickly, holding it tenderly while wincing from pain at the collision. 

"Well, at least you got to talk to Leslie!" Cindy reaches, desperately looking for a defense. She didn't like that he was kind of right about the whole thing; she could have included him in the conversation. But she doesn't want to stop arguing just yet. In some weird, twisted way, maybe it could help them in the long run. She grimaces at her own thought process. Even she knew that was a cheap excuse for not wanting to admit she was wrong. 

"That was pure luck! What if she hadn't come in? Also, I choked on my Sprite, again, and you didn't even notice!" 

"You know as well as I do that if the tables were turned, you'd be acting the exact same way." She accuses, and the room falls silent. 

She smirks a little at her victory. They both knew she was right. 

"And you'd feel the same way." He retorts. Damn it. 

"Look, if you think that after all of this, that I would abandon you, I don't think we have anything else to talk about." 

"Well, I guess we don't." Ben replies, challenging her. 

"Fine then." She opens the door, and stomps out of it.

She's making so much noise that Ben can hear her all the way down the hall. 

He moves back to his chair, and slumps into it. 

"What have I done?" His head drops into his hands once again, and he fights back tears, failing miserably. 

Chris walks back into the office at that moment. "Ben Wyatt!" He does his classic finger guns, (the ones that Ben is too upset to roll his eyes over), but freezes when he spots him in tears. 

He quickly runs to his side. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," he replies, trying to hide his pain, but again, fails miserably. 

"Do not lie to me. I have LITERALLY never seen you more sad than you are right now." 

Chris' classic overuse of the word "literally" almost puts a smile on his face. Almost. 

"Cindy and I had a fight." He reveals, hiding his face. 

"That's terrible!" Chris sighs. "Love is hard." 

"We're not dating." He whips his head back up. 

"I didn't mean that kind of love." Chris replies, still with a smile on his face. Good lord. When is he not smiling? 

"Oh." Ben says sheepishly. 

He jumps up suddenly, hit with an idea. "Let's go for a run! It'll cheer you up!" 

"Or it'll kill me." He counters, but it goes unanswered, as Chris starts pulling him out of the room. 

// 

Cindy flops down on her bed. She left Ben's office angry that he wasn't seeing her point, but now, as memories of the argument keep flooding back, she can't think of a single word she said that she doesn't regret. 

Sarah comes in a few minutes later, already aware of the fight that occurred. She sits down on the bed with her knees tucked behind her, gently rubbing Cindy's back in perfect silence. 

The sweet gesture is enough to calm Cindy down, and she slowly falls into a much-needed slumber, dreaming of hurtful words that can't be taken back, of regret that can't be wished away. 

It's absolute terror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo how do you like my long (not really) chapter? good? bad? want longer ones? shorter ones? comment please I'm bored lol


	8. Restoring a Friendship and Weakening Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy and Ben have a heart-to-heart. Meanwhile, what's going on with Leslie and Ann?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this fanfic make sense? No. 
> 
> Do I care? No. 
> 
> Well, actually yes, but I have no control over this. Not anymore. 
> 
> Anyways. 
> 
> Is this OOC? Probably.
> 
> Does it matter? Well, yes, but hush.

Ben came back from his run with Chris feeling tired, sick, and guilty.

On the list of issues Ben was having with Chris lately, now he can add "tried to kill me" to the list.

The problem with his nauseation is him forgetting that he lives with two deranged psychos.

Wait, that's redundant. Eh, it's accurate.

Andy shows up to greet him first. "Hey roomie."

"Hey." Ben says tentatively, and with good reason. His roommates were so unpredictable, it wouldn't be surprising if they shot him to death right now.

Which was perfectly fitting because suddenly April appears holding cans of- oh good lord that's his shaving cream- and shoots it directly at his face, the white fluff stinging his eyes.

He stands there with a neutral expression on his face; he knew what game they were playing. All he had to do was stand perfectly still and not react at all. Plus, standing still reduced the excruciating pain, but sadly, not by much.

When April finished, a satisfied grin on her face, Andy high fives her.

"Was that really necessary?" He deadpans with the same facial expression.

"Yeah, we had to cover up your face, 'cause you're lame." April replies, Andy high fiving her again.

That wasn't her best insult. He doesn't know if that's a good thing, because he still feels like something's missing, like there's still something just waiting to jump out at him.

Ben tries to walk, but his legs don't work anymore, *all thanks to Chris*, and the shaving cream's currently clouding his vision, so he stumbles and hits the ground.

While they laugh, Andy actually trying to help him up while April takes photos, he wonders if this is what rock bottom feels like.

//

Cindy wakes up and groans, overcome by guilt. All night, she switched between her normal disturbing dreams and ones full of regret.

She should _not_ be feeling this guilty about a month-long friendship..

There's a knock on her door, and she groans again. Human interaction is overrated.

She takes her sweet time to get to the door, not feeling super motivated to do anything. When she opens the door, the weight on her shoulders seems to get a little easier to carry.

"Hey." She smiles sleepily.

"Hi," Sarah replies.

"Whatcha got there?" Cindy gestures to the white box in her hands.  
"I made a cake, figured it would make you feel better."

"Well, I'm more of a salt person, but I can make an exception." She smirks, and Sarah rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

She pulls the door open wider to let Sarah inside.

Setting the cake on the kitchen counter, she turns to Cindy and sighs in pity.

"How are you doing?" She asks, with genuine concern.

"Fine," she abruptly replies. Her instinct to hide her feelings was already taking place as she walked to the couch.

"You don't have to pretend." She says softly, feeling a little hurt at her reluctance. She follows her a little hesitantly; she didn't want to invade her space. She sits down on the red armchair.

"I guess not." Cindy sighs again like she's trying to prepare herself.

They sit in silence for a little bit. Sarah understands that what she needs is a comfortable quietude to prepare her thoughts. She's seen her this way before; they've been friends and coworkers for five years. It just feels different now, maybe because their relationship is different now.

Sarah starts to feel a little fidgety, so she gets up to bring the cake and cut it.

As she passes by the black couch, Cindy gently grabs her hand.

"Don't go." She whispers.

Sarah relents and sits back down in the armchair, watching Cindy take a deep breath.

"I tend to blame myself when something isn't my fault, and when it is, I'll subconsciously stop at nothing to shift the blame."

Sarah hums in response, not wanting to interrupt or chastise her if she was leading up to something.

"It's something I'm trying to work on, so if I am fully in the wrong, I'll be the first one to reach out and extend that olive branch. But if it turns out that I'm not the only one at fault here, or I'm innocent, I don't want to come crawling back on my hands and knees begging for forgiveness if I'm not the only one who needs to do so or feel any remorse."

"That makes sense," Sarah muses, trying to reassure her.

"Especially since I feel like if he had talked to me about this instead of avoiding me and pretending nothing was wrong, this could have been nipped in the bud faster and maybe not have become a big argument." Cindy turns to Sarah, a thoughtful but slightly worried look on her face, and her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

"What was he upset about?" Sarah questions.

"Long story short, he likes Leslie and is in the same situation we were in before you switched jobs, and we make him a little jealous." She scratches the side of her head. "At least, that's what I think he's mad about."

"That doesn't sound like he's mad?" Sarah poses it like a question, a confused look on her face that Cindy may or may not find adorable. Okay, she totally does.

"Well, I kept pressing him about it, and we ended up yelling at each other." Cindy groans, remembering, dropping her head into her hands.

"That sucks."

"I know." She pushes a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "I think we're both in the wrong. How about you, what do you think?"

Sarah moves over to the couch next to Cindy. She takes a minute to think.

On the one hand, Cindy has a point. She tried to talk to Ben because he was avoiding her, but he didn't want to, which truly started the entire argument.

On the other hand, she can _kind of_ see where he's coming from; they've been a little exclusive of him lately because they're so involved with each other, and it makes sense that he would be a bit jealous. Maybe him not talking about it was his way of coping because it was a weird topic to have to discuss.

"I agree. Ben lied to you, but maybe you could have been more understanding." She replies. "Are you going to go talk to him?"

"Maybe." She sighs for the millionth time that day. "The problem with us both being in the wrong is I'm not sure which one of us is supposed to reach out first."

Sarah pats Cindy's knee. "Just drop by his office later today."

"Good idea." She leans on her shoulder. "Maybe I can bribe him with something."

"But not calzones, right?"

"God, no, that shit's an abomination." Cindy snorts, and Sarah laughs.

"Agreed."

//

Cindy stops by Ben's office, tentatively taking a glance inside.

"Cindy Miller!" A voice behind her calls and her heart almost jumps out of its chest. She doesn't let it show, though, and instead turns around and greets him while she's still internally trying to catch her breath.

"Chris Traeger." She grins cockily and winks at him.

"Ben was looking for you. Have you two made up yet?" Chris asks with genuine curiosity.

Oh. Right. That's what she was here for. "How did you-" Actually, never mind, she doesn't want to know. "Um, no, not yet. Have you seen him?"

"I saw him just now by the- Oh hello, Ben Wyatt!"

Cindy whips her head around, her hair whipping Chris in the face, who laughs and grins again, the incident already long forgotten.

"Can we talk?" Cindy asks Ben as he glances around the room nervously.

Chris puts his hands on their shoulders. "There's LITERALLY nothing in the world like two good friends making up after a fight." He sighs in content.

"What about herbal smoothies?" Cindy counters, raising an eyebrow at him in amusement.

"Why yes, of course, Cindy. You're so right. I need some time to think about this some more. Ben? No calls." He says, walking off while muttering pros and cons for each.

"Well, that got rid of him." Ben snorts.

"Yes, I noticed," Cindy says icily before grimacing. "Sorry."

"It's fine. We should talk like you said."

"Okay."

//

Tom's looking at something on Leslie's computer when she walks into her office. He jumps away the moment he spots her, maintaining an uncharacteristically nonchalant demeanor.

"Tom, what were you doing?" She says, in a mixture of disgust and worry.

"Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ugh, whatever." She tries to get to her desk, but Tom blocks her.

She pushes him out of the way (the man really is weak) and looks at her computer.

"Why were you looking on amazon for glitter body spray?"

"Why _wouldn't_ I be doing that?" He counters.

"Well, this is a government computer, for one, and second, don't you have a phone?"

"Jean-Ralphio broke it when he was trying to make a shoe out of it." He whines to her. "I'm not mad because that's honestly an amazing idea."

"I'm not even going to ask."

She trots away into her office, excited for her upcoming lunch with Ann. They haven't had proper bonding time lately, what with Ann's job and dating life.

All these canceled lunches from Ann have been upsetting Leslie and making her concerned about them drifting apart, which is truly her worst nightmare, except for bees.

Those are terrifying.

//

"I just want to say I'm sorry-" Cindy starts.

"I was a total idiot-"

"Wait. What?" Cindy confusedly says, her eyes widening.

"Huh?" He says, just as bewildered.

"You go first." Cindy grins, him relenting amusedly.

"Fine. I'm sorry that I avoided you and then got mad when you wanted to talk. There aren't any excuses, but maybe some kind of an explanation, if you will."

Cindy nods.

"We've only been friends for a month. But we had that, uh, one thing in common. Now it's gone. So that's already an issue. Then I felt abandoned when you talked to Sarah and jealous because of whatever's going on with Leslie."

"I understand."

He looks at her doubtfully.

"Really, I do."

His expression softens and quickly changes into one of expectance.

"Oh. Right. That." Cindy remembers. "I'm sorry that I abandoned you and yelled when you tried to explain your side- You know what, the more I talk, the less it feels like I'm in the wrong- sorry." She laughs. "I'm sorry."

"Now, was that so hard?"

She grabs a pencil from his desk and hurls it at him. He ducks under the desk and then tries to get up, bumping his head.

"Not a word." He said once he regained his composure.

"I didn't say anything." Cindy feigns a look of confusion.

They both roll their eyes, thankful they got their groove back once again.

Ben bends over to retrieve a pencil he dropped, and a cramp shoots through his body, making him freeze. 

"You okay, dude?"

"Yeah, Chris made me go on a run with him."

"Oh, lord."

//

Ann puts her head in her hands and calls Leslie.

She answers on the first ring.

"Hi, Ann! You excited for lunch today?"

"Uh, yeah, about that..."

"No. No. NO. You promised."

"I know, I'm sorry. The hospital's packed today, I can't control it. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cancel. Maybe we could do it tomorrow?"

She asks hopefully, then facepalming when she remembers she's busy then too.

"Maybe." Leslie says a little too calmly, which is very unlike her.  
Ann hangs up, her head in her hands and her mind riddled with guilt.

Dr. Harris passes by, rudely reprimanding her about personal calls while on duty, and she immediately forgets about it, having other tasks at hand.

//

Leslie's about to tell Ann about Tom's erratic behavior today when she hands up unexpectedly.

"Crap on a cracker," she mutters.

What's been going on with Ann lately? When she's not at the hospital, she's on a date with who seems to be the 200th guy that week.

It feels like she's trying to avoid her, but she hasn't done anything particularly annoying lately. Of course, she always thinks that. But Ann didn't seem to be mad at her?

She wishes friendships were easier, then immediately chastises herself for the thought. Every relationship is supposed to be difficult; it makes it all the more worth it to tough it out to find something amazing; create fond memories while roasting marshmallows, getting drunk while playing Truth or Dare.

Not this. Not bailing on lunch, and short phone calls, and little interaction between.

Then she remembers that it's Ann; they were constants, they were going to be just fine.

She hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not like I'm making this up as I go, I just have an outline ready with what I want to happen, and I write the chapters, but it feels like I'm dragging this out too much while trying to get to an interesting part, and it's making this look messy and boring. Maybe I'm just insecure. No one knows.
> 
> At this point the entire fic is just OCs stirring up shit. lol.
> 
> Also I feel the sudden (not really) urge to make this fic take a drastic turn and end up weirdly violent and disturbing lol. Just kidding.
> 
> Anyway, I'm honestly having a lot of fun with it, so if you're reading this, I would love honest feedback about how this is going so far. 
> 
> Fun Fact: I kind of have a beta now, so hopefully these chapters will make more sense. She pointed out some inconsistencies in the fic, so I made some minor (not really important) edits, so I'm really grateful for her help. :) 
> 
> Yes this note is very long lol.


	9. Shenanigans, Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ann fight at the Snakehole Lounge. Poor Sarah has to take care of everyone, especially when Cindy gets drunk and reveals some things. Also some nice drunk shenanigans with the Parks Department gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dumb_Trash_Monster wrote part of the hilarious shenanigans, saying "so your story gets its shenanigans and i get to write something stupid" lol
> 
> she's also posting the scenes as a standalone (minus the Cindy and Sarah parts) so ill link it here when that happens.
> 
> Edit: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27740908
> 
> she also betaed for me because she's awesome.

Leslie's positively glowing at Tom's entrepreneurial spirit. Granted, she would've preferred that his aspirations were directly involved in politics, but she can't be too picky. It's just great that he's found something that he's interested in.

On a completely unrelated note (yeah, right), she's glad that he's advertising alcohol this time. She's felt like she needed to get heavily drunk for a while.

She loves her life, but damn it if it isn't frustrating sometimes...

Anyway, she's really hopeful that Ann gets the job at City Hall; they would get to catch up more, and maybe she wouldn't feel like they were drifting apart anymore...

Her main reasons for wanting her to get the job are less than professional, she has to admit. However, Ann _is_ qualified for the job, so it's not like she was nominating an incompetent oaf.

Secondly, she _really_ needs her to talk to about Ben. Things have been progressing lately, but at the same time, they aren't.

Before Tom interrupted with his Snakejuice (is that what it's called?) advertisement, she was talking to Ben at Donna's desk about park maintenance.

They were laughing, then it got serious, then awkward, then serious again.

It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride lately.

Donna was surprisingly not participating in the conversation.

"Hey, Tom?"

"What's up, boo-boo?"

"Gross. I was wondering, can I invite someone to the thing tonight?"

"Is she hot?"

Leslie narrows her eyes at him, and before she can lecture him about the objectification of women, he speaks again.

"Can't tell whether that's a yes or no," Tom says, a little hesitantly under Leslie's authoritative gaze.

"Well, it's Sarah, and she'll probably bring Cindy," Leslie says, choosing to ignore his question.

"Good, they're hot."

"They're also taken," Leslie says, crossing her arms.

"Doesn't matter."

//

"I've been a nurse for over 10 years. It's not something you just quit."

"I know, but I think with this new job, you could make a difference, make real change happen. Plus, we'll be working together in the same building, no lightning-round catch up sessions..." Leslie trails off, her eyes full of excitement.

"It would be nice to have an office," Ann admits.

Ann can't say she isn't a little excited, but throughout the rest of her shift, she keeps thinking about it, and something seems... off.

There's a shit ton of "homework" that she'll never be able to look through entirely. Plus, Leslie never talked to her about this, and.... did she even want to do it? Or was she just telling herself that she wanted to for Leslie's sake?

Ann shames herself for thinking that. Realistically, she knows how to separate her own feelings from Leslie's, so the thought doesn't make any sense.

She walks into the next hospital room with a smile on her face as a professional courtesy to the patient resting inside, but, internally, she's just really, really confused.

//

Ben's sitting on Cindy's couch, waiting for her to finish getting beer from the kitchen.

"Cindy?" He calls out to her.

"Hold your horses," she grunts, "I'm getting it."

What the hell is she doing in there? Ben doesn't even want to know. "Not that."

She appears behind him, holding two bottles of beer. He screams when he hears loud breathing, and she laughs evilly.

"I thought I told you to stop doing that." He glares at her.

"Don't worry, you did. I just didn't listen."

"I hate you so much sometimes."

"Mission accomplished." She grins, taking a seat in the armchair.

"What was I going to say?" He asks, rubbing his temples in thought. "Oh. Do you want to come to this Snakejuice thing with me tonight?"

"Do I want to come to what-now?" Cindy pulls the bottle cap from her beer, relaxing a little at the noise of the fizz. She takes a big gulp, not realizing how thirsty she was until that moment.

"The Snakehole Lounge. Tom made some kind of drink, and he wants to sell it. I think it's called Snakejuice? I don't know. Do you want to come?"

"Oh, I know where that is. And sure, if you let me poison your drinks."

"Where did you even get- you know what, I don't want to know. I think I'm gonna pass. Okay? Thank you." He says, a hint of seriousness under the layer of sarcasm.

"How rude."

//

Leslie's taking another shot of Snakejuice when Sarah comes up behind her, a hint of concern across her face. 

She watches lazily as Sarah's eyes drift around Leslie's area, spotting the dazed look in her eyes and the empty shot glass in her hand.

"What happened?"

"Betrayal. Treachery. Deception. Want me to go on?" Leslie makes a gesture as if reading from a long list but gets dizzy and feels herself tipping back, about to fall off the seat.

Sarah's hands come up to Leslie's shoulders to steady her. "Whoa there. Okay. You are way drunker than me."

"Thank you, Sarah." She says earnestly, then her eyes light up, remembering something. "Where's Cindy?" She says as she begins sliding onto her back, the cushiony sensation of the booth comforting her.

"I have no idea." Sarah quickly scans the room. "Oh, she's over there with Ben." She squints at them. "What the hell are they doing?"

Leslie sits up and plants her hands on the top of the booth, lifting herself up to look for them.

Ben's laying down on the booth in the same position she was in a moment ago, while Cindy leans over him, spraying him with something.

"What the-" Leslie blurts out.

"I'm not surprised, since it's Cindy, but I'm going to go check on them. Think you'll be okay over here by yourself, or do you want to come with me?"

Leslie shakes her head enthusiastically, and Sarah decides it's best to leave before she starts monologuing about how she's an independent woman who can handle herself.

That happened once before... it was traumatizing.

//

"Dude, I was talking to you," Cindy says, gesturing to Ben's body draped against the booth.

He doesn't respond.

She opens her black purse and grabs a spray bottle out of it. As she's spraying the water on Ben's face, a voice calls out from the side of her.

"What the fuck is going on?" Sarah asks, her hands coming up to rest on her hips.

"I was talking to Ben, and he fell asleep, and now he's ignoring me, so I'm spraying him with water," Cindy responds casually.

Sarah laughs loudly, finally waking Ben from his slumber.

"Finally," Cindy moans.

"What's going on?" Ben asks. "And ugh- what's this on my face?" He rubs his face roughly in confusion.

"I abandoned Leslie to check on you because apparently Cindy's method of waking people up is spraying people with stuff." She gestures to the bottle still in Cindy's hand.

"Hey, it's effective!" She drunkenly sputters.

"Not this time, apparently. Ok, as much as I'd like to continue this _interesting_ discussion, I have to go check on Leslie." She starts to walk away, and Ben abruptly stands up, stopping her in her tracks.

"I'll talk to her," He volunteers.

Andy and April start to approach while furiously making out with each other, letting the group know they needed to relocate immediately.

//

Ann doesn't have to take this. She's a grown woman; she can do whatever she wants. If that involves dating a slew of people and dumping most of them on the same day, that's her prerogative.

Leslie needs to stop being so judgemental, especially with her track record.

Ann stops herself. Even in her drunkness she recognizes that was kind of harsh, even if she didn't say it to Leslie's face.

She looks around, realizes there's nothing left for her to do there, and dramatically storms out the front door.

//

Leslie doesn't know where the time went. One minute she and Ann were fine. The next, however, there was screaming and yelling and crying.

The crying was mostly on her side, though.

She doesn't get why Ann won't see her point; she's just trying to help, and she got mad and stormed off.

It's unfair. She's in the right here... isn't she?

If not, then she'll cut off all her toes and give them to April so she can cast spells with Orin or something.

That's how sure she is. If Ann's going to be stubborn about this, so is Leslie. If she's wrong (which she isn't), then she's wrong.

Damn it, why did this have to happen? Weren't discussions between friends supposed to lead to deeper intimacy? Isn't that what they were striving for?

Apparently not.

She scans the room, expecting to see Ann dancing with The Douche again, but instead, she sees her figure retreating out the front door angrily.

So much for deeper intimacy, she thinks, as her eyelids begin to droop and eventually close, pulling her into a deep slumber.

//

Leslie's conked out on the booth when Ben approaches her.

He doesn't know whether or not to wake her up, so he stands there awkwardly for a moment, standing over her body all sprawled out.

She stirs, and he shakes her shoulder gently.

"Hillary Clinton, get off of me." Leslie slowly opens her eyes to see Ben hovering over her.

"Ahh!" She yelps, sitting up.

"Sorry, I- sorry." He says. The intoxication finally seeps in and takes him over, making him laugh hysterically.

"It's okay. Where are we?"

"Snakehole. You fell asleep on the booth."

"No, I didn't- I was with Sarah. Where is she?" Leslie gets up, swaying a little.

"She's with Cindy."

"Oh, that's good," Leslie whispers, sitting back down. "I like Cindy. She's so fun and sweet." She lets out a small burp. "Oh, no. I don't feel so delicious."

"Me neither."

"I had a fight with Ann, you know. There was yelling. I think she hates me now." Leslie says sullenly.

Her emotions overtake her, and she bursts into tears, holding her head in her hands while positioning her elbows atop her knees.

Ben sits down next to her, looking around awkwardly because he doesn't know what to do.

Not that he didn't want to comfort her (oh, he _very_ much wanted to do that), but, was it appropriate? Where's the line?

At work, the line is obvious; professional interaction, maybe the usual friendly teasing and chit chat, but definitely no romantic elements or flirting.

But this was new.

They're friends, though, right? He can comfort a friend. That's not weird. He tentatively rests his hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly.

"It's gonna be okay," he slurs drunkenly, starting to feel a little dizzy himself.

As he feels his lunch from earlier that day start to rise in his throat, he decides that that may not be the case.

//

Sarah's sobering herself up with popcorn and water from the bar when Leslie approaches her.

"HEY," She says loudly.

"Hi… what's up?"

"I'm so mad. Ben's being cute again, and I want to punch Chris so bad." She gestures over to Ben dancing horribly to the music and Cindy filming him from afar, suddenly turning around to look at them.

Ben stops abruptly, causing Cindy to stop the recording and sidle up to Sarah and Leslie.

"Hey," she slurs, giving Sarah a suggestive glance. "I have a secret." She whispers, turning back to look at Ben who has resumed his terrible dancing, giving him a sarcastic thumbs up and turning to Leslie.

"That's awesome!" Leslie hiccups. "Secrets are so fun! I want a secret!" She whines.

"It's about Ben." Cindy widens her eyes, suddenly erupting into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Sarah starts to back away a little bit, but stays nearby, both to keep an eye on her friend and her girlfriend, and also because secrets are awesome and she wants to know.

"He totally likes you!" She whispers with a hint of amusement. "He's so pathetic about it, like why can't he just tell you already? Everyone's stopped caring." Cindy grabs a random shot glass and downs it.

"Whaaaaaaat? He likes me? But there's rules and stuff." Leslie whines again. "That's awesome."

"I know. But it's a secret, okay? So hush."

Leslie mimes zipping up her mouth and throwing away the key, which sends Cindy into another fit of hysterical laughter.

Sarah, perched a couple feet away, decides that this is the moment to put a stop to whatever's going on before Leslie and Cindy run out of the bar and get hit by oncoming traffic. Being themselves, that seems like something that would happen.

"Okay, let's maybe get you two home." Sarah places a hand in the small of Cindy's back, her other coming up to rest on Leslie's, gently guiding them to the exit.

//

After dropping Leslie off with Donna and her Mercedes, she leads Leslie to her Toyota, unlocking it. "Babe, you want to get in?"

"Haha, you called me babe! I like that!" Cindy laughs loudly, forcefully swinging the blue car door open, making her dizzy. She sways backwards, causing Sarah to grab her hand and gently pull her into the car.

//

Donna isn’t about to let any of these fools throw up in her Benz. She is on high alert for any dry heaving, and she is going quickly to her next stop. Which isn't actually her mother’s butt, as Leslie suggested earlier; it’s Jerry’s house.

Donna doesn’t know why that girl Sarah didn’t volunteer to drive anyone home. Then Donna remembers that she is driving Cindy, but she decides it doesn't count.

Sarah’s car is right behind the Benz. She can see Cindy reclining in the passenger seat with her eyes half closed and a faint smile. Sarah’s home is apparently right by Jerry’s, so Donna isn’t surprised that the two outsiders are tailing her.

Donna decides to turn her attention back to her car full of idiots.

She can hear them scheming back there. First she hears a fit of giggles from Ron, who then whispers something to Ben, who spreads the message to the fools in the back seat. Jean Ralphio even leans over the back seat to say something to Tom, who is in the trunk. Soon the whole car is laughing, and Donna has no clue why.

“SHHH! SHH! Guys, we gotta be quiet!” Leslie whispers as loudly as humanly possible.

“Right!” Ben loud whispers in response before everything goes quiet.

Donna wonders what this is all about, and she isn't sure that she likes it.

//

Ron waits until everyone has been silent for enough time to ease all suspicion. After a minute or two, Ron recognizes the street, and calculates the distance towards the group's real first destination. When it’s time, he subtly taps Ben’s hand, which is awkwardly placed on Ron’s knee. Ben then uses his other hand to reach towards the backseat and wave: the signal to commence.

//

After the laughing fit comes a couple of minutes of silence. Then Donna hears a yell.

“Oh my God! Andy!” April yells.

“Woah! Woah! Pull Over!” Leslie shouts.

Then Jean Ralphio and Ben yell something at the same time. A mess of screams erupts from the back of the car, too garbled for Donna to make anything out, but the message is clear enough. She slows down and pulls over to the side of the road, coming to a stop near a huge tree.

“I swear, if one of you made a mess of my Mercedes, I will kick you!” Donna yells as she gets out of her seat and walks to the back of the car. She opens the door to see Leslie staring right at her.

“Now!” Leslie loudly slurs.

Everything happens in a matter of seconds. She catches a glimpse of Ben leaning over to the wheel as Ron opens the passenger side door. Jean Ralphio opens his door. Everyone exits quickly, like a group of startled mice. Leslie darts past Donna to get out of the car. Ron and Ben stumble over each other to exit from the front seat. Tom slithers over the back seat and out of Jean Ralphio's door. Someone tugs Jerry off of the roof. He lands surprisingly gracefully.

Before Donna knows what to do, she’s staring at an empty car. There’s not even any vomit. Of course, Donna isn't disappointed about the lack of vomit, but she is confused as to why she pulled over.

Her confusion is put to rest after Jerry states that he has no idea what’s going on because he was strapped to the roof, and everyone else responds by drunkenly chanting, “CLIMB THE TREE! CLIMB THE TREE!”

“RACE TO THE TOOPP!!!” Ron yells after everyone else’s chants have subsided.

//

Tom reaches the bottom branches of the tree last. Except for Jerry that is. Jerry must've wandered off somewhere.

Tom had been practically trampled on his way over to the big oak, but he isn't about to let that cost him this fifty cent bet. At least he thinks it’s fifty cents. Ron said everyone would give a nickel to the winner, and Tom has trouble remembering coin values sober. Of course he’s not gonna be able to remember and THEN multiply it by the number of people playing. He doesn’t even know how many people are playing. It’s everyone except Donna, but Tom doesn’t know how many that is.

Everyone but Tom had gotten winded on their brief sprint to the tree. Now they’re taking a quick breather before starting their climb. Tom doesn’t need breathers, he was too busy being stepped on to get winded on the run over to the tree. He decides to take advantage of his ability to move.

Jean Ralphio is hunched over with his hands on his knees, so Tom tells him not to move. Tom puts one foot on Jean Ralphio's knee, and the other on the tree. Now, he’s up high enough to easily hoist himself onto the lowest branch. He lifts himself onto another branch before looking down.

Everyone else is starting to move now. Leslie and Ron pull themselves onto low branches on the side of the tree opposite to Tom. They move with competitive vigor, and Ben follows. April stands precariously on Andy’s shoulders, using the tree’s trunk to steady herself. She hops onto a branch, and Andy lifts himself onto a lower one.

Jean Ralphio stays behind for a moment to check everyone out. He lets out an old fashioned whistle, then grabs Andy’s leg, pulling them both into a sprawling heap on the ground.

“John Ralpho!” Andy whines as he slurs and grumbles.

“Sorry man!”

//

Donna stands near the base of the tree, watching this freakshow make their way to the top. Andy and Jean Ralphio appear to have given up, and hang upside down by their legs while chatting about popsicles.

Donna wishes that she could just drive away, but Ben, the sneaky little ferret, had swiped them when he was leaning towards the wheel earlier.

She hears an engine behind her, and turns to see Sarah and Cindy getting out of Sarah’s car. She greets them and explains the odd sight of the tree full of drunks, and the couple nods before standing back to watch the show.

//

Ben surveys his competition as he scales the tree. Tom is in the lead, but Ron is close behind him. Leslie has also made it further than Ben, but she appears to be slowing down. Ben pulls himself up to a branch even with her, and they pause for a breather.

“Crazy night,” Leslie says woozily.

“Fun night,” Ben responds before slowly and almost incoherently elaborating, “We’ve got a tree race, and we’re drunk, and we’re here together, like one big drunk family.”

Leslie nods thoughtfully, then looks up. Ben follows her gaze to see Ron starting to eclipse Tom. From Ben’s angle, he can see Ron miss his targeted branch, instead grabbing onto Tom’s ankle.

This causes Tom to lose his balance. He begins to fall from one branch to another. Even while drunk, Ben can see where Tom’s path leads. His eyes widen and he grabs Leslie by the shoulder. “Move! You gotta move!”

Leslie looks back to Ben, confused. “Wha? Move? Why?”

Before Ben can answer her question, Tom crashes into her. She yelps and joins Tom on his chaotic journey down the tree, passing April, Andy, and Jean Ralphio on the way. They land on the ground with a loud “OOF!”

April makes no move to help either Tom or Leslie, instead using Ben’s distracted state to pass him. Jean Ralphio and Andy swing off of their branch to hunch over Leslie and Tom. Ben Looks up at Ron and April, who are nearing the top of the tree, before deciding to scurry down to help Leslie. And Tom. He cares about Tom too.

He reaches the ground to see Sarah, Donna, Cindy, Jean Ralphio, and Andy crowded around a pile. Upon closer inspection, this pile is Tom dramatically draped over Leslie.

For an odd moment, Ben finds himself wishing that he had fallen out of the tree. Then he’d be in Tom’s position right now.

He snaps out of it when Leslie starts to grumble and groan. “Get off. Tom. Move,” she says as she lightly whacks him.

Tom doesn’t move. Ben realizes that Tom must be unconscious. He gestures to Andy and has him roll Tom off of Leslie. Jean Ralphio, Andy, and Donna rush to Tom, while Ben and Sarah rush to Leslie.

Right then, a triumphant and gruff yell rings through the air. “I made it! Ron wins!”

Ben chooses to ignore that and looks to Sarah to say, “I got this. You take Cindy and go find Jerry.”

Sarah nods and rushes off. Ben looks down at Leslie. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just a little bruised maybe. That jabroni fell and took me with him,” she says groggily.

“Jabroni?” Ben questions.

“Yeah. I say it sometimes when I dronk. Drunk. Drink. That’s it,” She says almost dreamily.

“Ahhh,” Ben replies, drowsily. “Can you get up?”

“I can get up, but this ground is pretty comfy.”

“We’ll see about that.” Ben lays on the ground. It is pretty comfy, except for the root under his shoulder. He looks up, hoping to see stars, but instead sees Ron and April descending from the tree.

April reaches the ground. Ron falls out of a low branch, landing with a thud. “I win!” Ron spits. “You all owe me a quarter!”

A broken up chorus of voices responds, “No! It’s a nickel!”

“Fine. What’s this?” Ron says, gesturing at Tom, Leslie, and Ben.

Donna speaks up, “Tom and Leslie fell. I’m not sure what this little thief is up to.”

“Thief?” Ben asks.

“Yes thief. I saw you grab my keys during your grand escape.”

“Oh,” Ben says as he fumbles around his pockets, looking for the keys. He finds them and tosses them. He misses Donna by about a yard. “Sorry,” he says from his vulnerable spot on the ground.

Luckily for Ben, Donna decides not to stomp on Ben, instead heading to her left to grab her keys from the ground. “Really, little man? That’s your aim?”

“I’ll have you know I played shortstop on my JV baseball team! Also I just drank like five...teen snakes juice.”

Eventually, everyone gets up off the ground and makes their way to Donna’s car. Cindy and Sarah find their way back with Jerry. The group piles into the Benz, and Cindy and Sarah strap Jerry, who is now missing both shoes, to the roof of the car. Cindy yells at Ben for not including her in their competition, before saying goodnight and heading to Sarah’s car.

//

Donna starts the car and begins the drive to Jerry’s house. The group lazily yells to stop at every store and restaurant they pass, but Donna ignores them. They don’t need to make a mess of a Food N Stuff at four in the morning.

After everyone is dropped off. Donna sits in her driveway with her head in her hands. She makes herself a promise before heading into her house: This is the last time she’ll ever be the sober one in this group.

//

Ben wakes up at home, not quite sure how he got there. He opens his phone and sees the long list of drunk texts he sent Cindy. Good lord. She's going to make fun of him so hard later, he thinks, as he reluctantly lifts himself out of bed, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head.

//

Leslie wakes up in pain. She sleeps later than usual, (6:30am? Good god, that's late. She can see the sun already rising a little.)

Every bone in her body hurts, and the feelings of regret washing over her certainly didn't help.

//

_"Are you okay?"_

_"I'm sad."_

That answer bugged Ben. The words rang in his ears and stole his focus. That's why he suggested an hour-long break; he couldn't think about anything other than those three words that Leslie uttered so dejectedly.

It bugs him as he goes to the bathroom.

It bugs him as he sits back down in his office, rubbing his temples.

It bugs him when he tries not to think about it.

Why does it bother him so much?

_Oh, right._

Cindy bursts into the room in her usual way.

"You don't look so good." She visibly stifles a snicker.

"Be nice to me, please. I'm dying." Ben quickly requests.

"First of all, never. Second, you're not dying. What's going on?"

"Well, I'm dying, Leslie and Ann had a fight, and we have to hire a new P.R director, so take your pick."

"Hmm, what'd they fight about?"

"Is that all you're interested in?"

"Pretty much." Cindy reaches into her purse for a peppermint candy and swiftly unwraps it, pushing it past her lips hungrily.

"I honestly don't know." He averts his eyes from hers and grabs a pencil from his desk drawer, fidgeting nervously. "Leslie's really sad, though, and it bothers me."

"Just go talk to Ann or something," Cindy says offhandedly, taking a quick glance at her nails and swirling the peppermint around her mouth with her tongue.

"Maybe- wait, what?"

"Talk. To. Ann." She does a slow clap in between words to make fun of him.

"I don't even know where she is," Ben says, trying to shut down her ridiculous plan. He's Ben Wyatt, Human Disaster; he can't just _talk_ to someone; he's too awkward.

"She's probably at home. I'll give you her address." She blows a strand of hair away from her face.

"So, how exactly is this supposed to help?"

Cindy huffs at him good-naturedly. "Dude, it's not rocket science. You go to her house and ask her to forgive Leslie. Chances are she's probably regretting it too." She pauses. "Look, you resolve their fight, they start talking again, and you score some points with Leslie. Everyone wins."

"Okay- well- what about-" Ben tries to argue. Damn it, he can't think of anything.

Cindy grins.

_This is such a bad idea._

//

He wasn't doing it just to get Leslie to like him (although that would be a bonus) but he genuinely cared. And the best part is, he can pretend he's doing it as a friend. At least, until this rubber band snaps. He's hanging onto his last thread here.

Ben stands in the doorway watching Leslie and Ann laughing while doubled over by the wastebasket, and there's not a doubt in his mind that it wasn't worth it.

But he does have to admit that Cindy's sarcastic reassurance helped a lot.

//

Things go back to normal within the next few days.

April's back to grumbling at everyone and making her usual murderous comments instead of holding her hungover head in her hands, hoping for death.

Andy throws up on Kyle a few more times, making him have to pay for more shoe shines, but recovers in a couple of days.

Tom's bounced back to his customary suggestive comments and nonsensical business schemes.

Ron is, well, Ron. He got over the hangover pretty quickly and went back to his usual means of barricading himself in his office.

Ann and Leslie's friendship is better than ever. Saying they've reached a deeper intimacy would be an understatement.

As for Leslie and Ben, deeper intimacy was the opposite of the goal. That's where trouble arises, and Leslie was good at avoiding it.

Memories of Cindy drunkenly telling Leslie that Ben liked her flashed through her mind, but she didn't know what to think of that. She might've dreamt it.

Ann herself said to avoid those one-on-one, tension-y situations with him, so it didn't matter anyway.

She could do that. She'll hold Ben at arm's length and make sure they were never alone together. She could drop off paperwork at his desk and avoid interacting with him.

It sounds like hell, and maybe it breaks Leslie's heart a little bit, but it's saving her (and him) from making a reckless decision that neither of them can take back.

It seemed easy enough.

//

"I am sending you two on a trip!"

_Oh no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel the need to write something here but nothing important comes to mind.


	10. Tricky Texting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Text conversations along with some awkwardness and humor during Road Trip. (S03E14)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah alliterative chapter title 
> 
> what an accomplishment 
> 
> xD
> 
> also I forgot to change the publishing date again

"Ugh, I can hear you thinking," Cindy groans, dipping her tea bag into her cup over and over, her right leg crossed over her left on the corner of Ben's bed.

He told her maybe a hundred times to stop drinking tea on his bed, but his outright objection to the action just made the concept of doing it all the more appealing.

"Leave me alone," He commands from his closet.

"I went through the same thing you did. It's awkward but deal with it. It's just a trip," She says indifferently.

He suddenly appears before Cindy, scaring her a little. "You got the girl. Your opinion doesn't count anymore." Ben sticks his tongue out at her playfully, and Cindy's face repugnantly scrunches up at that.

"One, never say 'you got the girl' ever again. Gross. Second, your tongue belongs in your mouth." She rolls her eyes.

"An interesting remark for someone who sticks her tongue out at me when she thinks I'm not looking."

"That's a lie. I only do it when I know you can see it."

"You're so mean to me."

"And proud of it."

"I'm serious. I was trying to avoid Leslie, but now I can't."

"Well, I say face the inevitable. The way I see it, just get it out of your system now. Make out, fuck, do what you want."

"The entire idea is to remain professional; I think that would be counter-productive," he deadpans.

"True." Cindy takes a sip of her tea, shifting a little in her spot. "Plus, you're too awkward to look at her the same way again if that were to happen."

"You're not helping."

"Fine. Look, if you want, I can just spam you with text messages. I already have some ideas." She pauses as if in the middle of a thought. "Ben, don't fucking do this, or I swear to God I'll get a machete and murder you in front of her. I don't think you'll want Leslie to see you die a gradual, agonizing, gruesome death." She takes a quick glance at her nails to symbolize nonchalance, frightening Ben even more.

"Y-yeah, let's, uh, maybe we can put that one on the back burner."

"I don't see why. Look how scared you are." She waves her hand to stop him from defending himself by pretending he wasn't. "It's effective."

Ben goes back into his closet to grab a shirt he had forgotten. Cindy sits there in silence, sipping her tea happily.

She raises an eyebrow at his suitcase. "You don't really need to pack much."

"I'm not taking advice from someone who told me I didn't need clothes because I could just wear a giant Hefty bag."

"I stand by that statement."

//

Cindy leaves not too long after that. April and Andy ended up breaking his door down (again) and asking weird questions. The most uncomfortable part was when Andy kept giving Cindy strange looks for sitting on Ben's bed.

She sits in her pajamas, laying on her bed with her phone in her hands. It pings, signaling a text message.

**Ann - How'd it go with Ben?**

**Cindy - Blah, blah, blah, Leslie, blah, blah, professionalism, and I stopped listening after that.**

**A - Why do I get the sense that that recount is inaccurate?**

**C - I dunno. What'd you and Leslie do?**

**A - We made a mixtape of "unsexy" music. I snuck an Al Green song in there.**

**C - Nice. Is she freaking out?**

**A - It's Leslie, so of course. We also made a list of boring conversation topics.**

**C - Haha. Tell her to ask him about his penis xD.**

**A - I did! She didn't like that suggestion :(**

Sarah strolls into the room, unbeknownst to Cindy, still staring at her phone.

"We should go out tomorrow night."

"Oh. Hey there." Cindy pushes her phone aside. "Yeah, why not?"

"Somewhere nice. My treat."

"What are you gonna wear?" Cindy waggles her eyebrows at her jokingly.

"Ew, stop it."

Cindy's grin doesn't fade.

"We're not having this conversation."

"Meanie," Cindy replies sarcastically. "Where do you want to go?"

"There's a really cool Italian place about half an hour away." Sarah unconsciously shifts closer to Cindy, making her smile.

"Awesome; I love Italian."

"I know you do."

//

"I'm allergic to fingers."

Leslie finds herself regretting the decision to make no more conversation on the car ride. She leans against the window.

"You alright?" Ben asks, evidently nervous about his playing with fire.

"Perfect," Leslie replies, avoiding eye contact.

_Eyes on the prize, Knope._

Or rather, eyes away from the prize, but that's neither here nor there.

Leslie finds herself spacing out, random memories flooding back into her mind while she stares into the distance.

//

" _Hey, I have a secret."_

_"That's awesome! Secrets are so fun! I want a secret!"_

_"It's about Ben... he totally likes you! He's so pathetic about it, like why can't he just tell you already? Everyone's stopped caring."_

Whoa, where did that memory come from? That has to be a dream... right?

Leslie didn't tell Ann about it; she wasn't even sure that it happened. But it's been following her the whole few days it's been since that dreadful night at the Snakehole Lounge.

They were all drunk, and she remembers having some pretty crazy dreams when she went to bed that night. Granted, most of them were about flying sea turtles and Joe Biden, but that doesn't matter.

The memory feels clear as day, though. She should call Cindy later. Wait, does she even have her number? Damn it.

"Hey, Ben?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Do you know Cindy's number? I need to ask her something."

"Right now?"

"Well, I guess not, but it's important."

Ben lets go of the steering wheel when they stop at a red light. "Is everything okay?" He looks at Leslie with genuine concern, making her stomach drop. She can't do this.

"Uh, yeah. Never mind, it wasn't important."

"But you just said-

"It doesn't matter," Leslie snaps at him. She didn't mean to, but goddammit, he was making this so hard, with his stupid cute face and adorable mouth. Ugh!

//

Cindy's applying deep red lipstick when there's a knock at the door.

"Just a minute!" She calls, pushing hair out of her face.

She steps back to view herself in the full-length mirror, running her hands down her thighs to smooth out the non-existent wrinkles on her black dress.

When Cindy opens the door, Sarah's there, holding a single rose.

"Hey. I got you a rose." She holds it out for Cindy to take.

Cindy's about to open her mouth when Sarah interrupts, stifling a laugh. "No satanic rituals."

"You know me too well."

//

Ben could see the spark in Leslie's eyes after he stated that Pawnee was special.

After that, he didn't know if he could control himself anymore and began texting Cindy random updates.

**B - Good Lord, this is so awkward... and my head hurts from all that banjo music.**

**C - I'm kinda busy rn, Ben. You two should just do it already.**

**B - Do what, exactly?**

**C - I thought I'd leave that up for interpretation. ;)**

**B - Remind me why I came to you for help.**

**C - Sorry, no can do.**

Ben groans, putting his phone down when the light turns green.

"What happened?"

"It's just Cindy making sex jokes."

Leslie bursts out laughing. "What?"

Ben shakes his head in his own amusement. "You don't want to know."

The caution they were formerly taking dissolved into their familiar banter, but that's better than awkward. It switched the silence from weird to comfortable, and that's always a plus.

Leslie pipes up again, interrupting his thoughts. "How far away is this restaurant?"

"Uhh, not too far now." He answers.

"That's not an answer, Benji," Leslie says, with mock exasperation.

"Sure, it is."

"Lies. I'm hungry; when are we getting there?" Leslie whines, grabbing her stomach dramatically.

"God, you're a toddler," Ben mutters jokingly.

"Hush yourself." Leslie retorts.

"No can do," he replies, taking a cue from Cindy.

//

Cindy's laughing with Sarah as she tells a story about her new job.

"And then the coffee spilled all over my new shirt!" Sarah adds, taking a ferocious bite from a breadstick to make Cindy snort.

Cindy's phone pings from inside her purse, and she pushes it aside. Sarah narrows her eyes at that but ultimately says nothing.

"I wonder how Leslie and Ben are doing on their trip," Sarah says, still laughing a little bit.

"Can't relate; he won't stop texting me about it." She gestures to her phone, which pings three more times as if on command.

"Shouldn't you get that?" Sarah asks, feeling a strange pang of guilt.

"I guess." She unzips her black purse and pulls out her phone, which pings again, making her groan.

**B - Cindy, help me. I may or may not have told Leslie I liked her.**

**B - Shit, she ran away. She said something about the whiz palace; do you know what that is? Never mind.**

**B - Oh my God, Chris is here.**

**B - Cindy, where are you?**

**B - Send help... he wants us to stay at his condo.**

Cindy shows her phone to Sarah, watching as the corners of her mouth turn up into an amused smile.

**C - Ask him if you and Leslie can share a bed.**

**B - This isn't funny, Cindy.**

**C - We'll see about that. Seriously though, just talk to her about it tomorrow when you get back. Make sure Chris isn't there.**

**B - I'm tired of waiting. Also, did you know that the key to a healthy urethra is radishes? Because I do now.**

**C - Can you call me later? I'm on a date.**

Ben doesn't respond to that.

//

Cindy sneaks out of Sarah's bed, not disturbing her in the slightest. They're both pretty tired out for... reasons, but Cindy feels the need to call Ben for a status update.

He answers on the first ring.

"How's it going over there?"

"Not well. Chris keeps getting up every five minutes. I've given up trying to sleep," Ben whispers exhaustedly.

Cindy glances over at the clock. It's after 2am.

"Well, I'm free to talk now. What happened?"

"Chris showed up out of the blue and interrupted us. I already confessed my feelings, so now we're kind of stuck here in this weird relationship limbo."

"Worst metaphor ever."

"I'm sleep deprived; give me a break."

"Never. Did Chris overhear anything?"

"No, that would've been mortifying."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. The logical thing would be to talk to Leslie when Chris isn't in sight, but if we went the logical route, none of this would be happening in the first place."

"Sounds rough," Cindy whispers.

"I think Chris is getting up again, so I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"Good luck."

//

Ben puts his phone away and turns on his side, closing his eyes to feign sleeping.

The person he heard gets closer, their footsteps approaching the bathroom.

The footsteps stop midway. Weird. Chris doesn't usually do that. Ben uses the word "usually" pretty loosely, only judging from the six or seven times Chris has already gotten up.

Ben opens one eye hesitantly and instantly locks eyes with Leslie.

//

"Uh, hey," Leslie says awkwardly.

"Hey there." Ben gives her a lopsided grin.

_Crap._

Ben should not be able to evoke such strong feelings in Leslie with just a smile. But she has to admit, at least to herself, that he does, judging by the butterflies in her tummy.

"I was just, uh, going to the whiz palace. I'll get out of your hair."

"Leslie, you don't-

"What?"

"You don't have to act like nothing happened."

_Double crap._

Leslie opens her mouth to respond to that, but then she hears a door opening and glares at him. It's been a long day; she's allowed to be a little cranky. "We'll talk about this later."

_Or not. That's always an option._

//

Saying the ride back to Pawnee was awkward would be an understatement.

Of course, oblivious Chris could never tell, so they've got that going for them.

It's funny how he seems so clueless about the whole thing but ruins every moment alone with them like it's his life's mission.

To be fair, it's kind of a blessing in disguise.

Leslie leans against the window again. She stares off into the distance while trying to stop the banjo music playing over and over in her head.

Her phone pings, waking Chris up from another one of his micro naps.

She sees Ben subtly roll his eyes at Chris. He must not be a fan of micro naps, she supposes, opening her phone to view the text message.

**Ann - How's it going? Are you almost back yet?**

**L - Well, Chris stopped playing his air banjo, so that's one good thing that came out of this trip.**

**L - I think Ben's pretty annoyed too.**

**L - This whole trip has been exhausting, Ann. Can we eat ice cream at your house when I get back?**

**L - Ann?**

**L - Hello? I need you!!! :(**

**A - Sorry, Les. April took my phone and tried to throw it at me.**

**L - Oof.**

**A - Look, you're Leslie Knope, and you can do this. And yes, we can eat ice cream. I was about to suggest that myself. Well, before April took my phone. Anyway, how did you like my pep talk?**

**L - You're improving. I take it you read the binder I gave you?**

**A - Maybe. ;)**

//

"Uh-oh."

"What?" Ben says, a little bit in a trance.

"I- uh, wasn't expecting that." Leslie blushes. "What are we gonna do now?" She takes a step back from him.

"I didn't- I didn't think that far ahead," Ben says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I don't blame you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) 
> 
> rip this chapter's formatting


	11. Budding Romances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ben's relationship develops, along with Cindy and Sarah's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just meant to be a plotless chapter. Thought it'd be nice to show their relationships slowly building before transitioning to new plot points. Shit's coming up tho xD.

"Have you guys gone on a first date yet?" Ann asks and instantly regrets it.

Leslie's expression becomes apprehensive. "Nope, but I should be okay, right? I'm sure I'm not going to drink an entire bottle of vinegar or break my kneecap or do some other dumb thing that makes him break up with me in the shower, right?" Leslie babbles all in one breath, looking up at Ann hopefully.

"Right," Ann replies, feeling a little skeptical now. "Do you need a practice date?"

Leslie taps her chin as if she were in deep thought. "No, I'll survive. But I'll need you to text me every 30 seconds that everything will be okay."

"That goes without saying," Ann smirks at her playfully. 

//

When Leslie steps into the restaurant, her nerves seem to fly away.

Granted, Ben's not there yet, but the idea that he was going to be made Leslie's stomach flutter in excitement. 

Maybe it was that in that moment she realized Ben wasn't like the others. He wasn't going to bring out the worst side of her, or break up with her so creatively.

She was going to be okay, which is why she smiles when she gets another text from Ann, knowing she doesn't need the reassurance anymore.

//

Leslie and Ben hold hands and walk into Sarah's office to meet her and Cindy.

Cindy looks upon them smugly, standing behind Sarah's chair drinking coffee.

"You made out, didn't you?" Sarah humorously asks, her green eyes sparkling with mirth. 

"Look at Ben's face. It was more than that," Cindy murmurs into her mug, making Sarah burst into laughter.

Leslie's face turns crimson, and Ben makes a face at Cindy's bluntness.

"Why did we come here again?" Leslie whispers into his ear.

"Oh yeah, we wanted to tell you that your meddling helped us work it out." He pauses for a moment, his voice lowering to a cross between a whisper and a mutter. "However, I still want to murder Chris."

Cindy takes the news in stride, maintaining a calm demeanor. "Is it really meddling if I was just trying to get you to stop texting me?" She deadpans, and Sarah giggles in the chair in front of her.

Leslie lets go of Ben's hand and takes a step to her right, settling herself in the chair a couple of feet away from the door. Ben adjusts himself, positioning his arm against the door jamb.

"Ben?"

"Yeah, Cindy?"

"Stop doing that; you look like an idiot," Cindy says.

"So mean to me." Ben rolls his eyes, but still steps away from the doorway.

"Damn straight," Cindy replies, taking a fierce sip of her coffee.

"Well, on that…. sweet note, I have to go," Leslie says, ducking out of the office.

"Me too; I have a meeting." Sarah nervously tucks a strand of red hair back and starts to gather her things. She shyly kisses Cindy's cheek and leaves the room.

Ben's expression slowly morphs into his own smug smile, and he opens his mouth to comment.

"Not a word," Cindy warns as she gathers her things.

Ben lifts his hands up in surrender for a moment before setting them back down and leaving after Cindy. 

//

Leslie runs her hands up and down Ben's arms, trying to calm him down from the grueling day they just had.

"Ben, it's okay." She smiles at him.

"How can you say it's okay? Your mom hit on me," Ben almost whines.

"Maybe she just noticed how cute of a butt you have," Leslie suggests, sounding sincere.

"Seriously?" He asks, smiling down at her.

"Yeah," Leslie says, resting her hands on his hips.

"If you weren't so cute, I'd be a lot more afraid," Ben admits, tracing his finger almost absent-mindedly down her jaw. 

"Aren't you glad I am, then?" Leslie challenges, pulling him down to kiss her. 

Ben doesn't answer verbally, choosing to instead return her kisses with a hum of approval, which Leslie doesn't seem to mind.

// 

Cindy and Sarah giggle loudly, making the strangers in the Mexican restaurant they're dining at look at them annoyedly.

"My mom called me the other day," Sarah mentions.

"Oh? What about?"

"Just normal chit chat. I made the mistake of mentioning I was dating someone, and now my family won't shut up about it."

"Oh, God. That sounds terrifying. Wait, have I met your parents before?" Cindy's dark blue eyes narrow in thought.

"I don't think so. My parents are homebodies; they rarely leave New Hampshire," Sarah muses, taking a sip of her Pepsi.

"Oh. I feel like I've met some relative of yours."

"My sister lives nearby. Cheryl?"

"OH!! Yeah, I remember her. She's awesome."

"Anyway, my mom keeps asking me creepy shit as a joke, and it needs to stop," Sarah chuckles at her own melodrama.

"Better than my parents," Cindy mumbles. Sarah shifts in her seat a little confusedly but doesn't ask her to elaborate.

They sit in comfortable silence for a moment or two until Cindy pipes up. "When is the food going to get here? I'm starving." She moans dramatically, draping the top half of her body across the table. Her long hair involuntarily spreads out as well.

"I don't know," Sarah responds. She looks up at something behind Cindy. "Oh, it's here. Look alive," she orders, gesturing for Cindy to get up.


	12. Trouble's a Brewin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy has a heart-to-heart with Ben. Leslie and Ben are being their normal adorable selves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> took inspiration for the chapter title from that old song "trouble's a comin'" and changed it a little.
> 
> let me know if its ooc

Sarah knocks on Cindy's door. "Cindy? Let me in!" She playfully whined.

Suddenly, the door swings open and Cindy emerges. "What do you want?" Cindy says, returning Sarah's tone.

"First thing on the menu is this," Sarah says, stepping up on her tiptoes to give Cindy a long kiss.

"Alright, you can come in, _I guess_."

"Yay!" Sarah claps her hands together, and Cindy can't help but roll her eyes.

Cindy grabs two mugs from the kitchen cabinet, moving around quickly to prepare coffee. "Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you keep an eye on the coffee? I need to go to the bathroom."

"You make me do so much work," Sarah says in mock offense.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hush." Cindy leaves the kitchen, walking down the long hallway and turning left for the bathroom. Sarah sits on the counter, fiddling with her fingers while the coffee brews.

Her phone rings from inside her pocket. Sarah answers it.

"Morning, mom," Sarah greets her.

"Hi, honey! I know it's kind of early, but your dad and I wanted to talk to you about something!"

"Shoot."

"We were thinking of coming for a visit next week." Her mother sighs happily at the thought. "And maybe we could meet you-know-who."

Sarah groans. "Not yet, Mom. We haven't even said the l-word yet."

//

Cindy comes out of the bathroom, hearing Sarah's voice in the kitchen. She freezes, not wanting to interrupt what she was doing.

"Not yet, Mom. We haven't even said the l-word yet."

Oof. Cindy's been wanting to say it for a little while but thought maybe it was too early. They've only been together, what, almost 2 months? She's lousy with time.

She's happy to meet Sarah's parents, but Cindy doesn't want to have to subject Sarah to her own.

//

Leslie sits in Ann's office waiting for Ben. Ann isn't there at the moment.

Leslie usually considers this a negative, because a day where she doesn't see Ann's beautiful, effervescent face is a bad one. This time, however, it may be a good thing. The awkwardness between them when Leslie or Ben come in there to meet the other is uncomfortably high.

Sometimes, it's the opposite in the way that Ann has that smug grin on her face when she leaves Leslie alone in the room.

Leslie isn't sure which one is better.

**

After a few minutes of awkwardly waiting while crossing and uncrossing her legs to better situate herself, Ben finally enters the room with a dopey look on his adorable face.

"What are you smiling for?" Leslie asks, noting her own sudden change in facial expression at his presence.

"I think you know the answer to that." And she does. She was about to play dumb and drag out the moment, but Ben had other ideas. She realizes that when he takes a seat next to her and pulls her into a kiss.

//

An intern drops off a stack of paperwork at Sarah's desk, making her groan. On a normal day, that would excite her; she loves paperwork, but getting it done in time means canceling her lunch plans with her girlfriend.

Sarah pulls her phone out from her jeans pocket to face the music.

**Sarah - Hey. Super swamped. I need to cancel lunch. 😬**

**Cindy - No worries.**

**S - You're being eerily calm about this. Are you plotting my murder?**

**C - Maybe. 🔪🔪🔪 Now get to work!**

**S - Good call.**

//

"Hey!" Cindy calls from her rooftop.

"What are you doing up there?" Ben yells.

"It's a nice view; need some help? There's a ladder right there." Cindy gestures to her right.

"If I die, it's on your head," Ben mutters while he climbs. He's holding a cardboard box; she hadn't noticed that before.

Ben grips the ladder like a vice, his knuckles turning white as he clambers up the steps. When he gets high enough, Cindy reaches for the box, which he then hands to her and quickly pulls himself up next to her.

"What's up? You sounded weird on the phone."

Cindy looks down at the box and finally realizes it's pizza. She ignores the question and sets the box between them so they can both reach it. Ben opens it and grabs a slice.

"If Chris knew I was eating this he would not be happy."

"Well, he's not your dad, though that would be kind of hot."

"Shut up."

They sit in silence for a few moments, both of them munching on the pizza.

Cindy can feel Ben's nervousness radiating off of him, likely from both their distance from the ground and her reluctance to speak.

"Sarah's mom called her today. I think she wants to meet me," Cindy says emotionlessly.

"Did Sarah tell you that?"

"No... but you know how it is when you overhear stuff. Read between the lines and all that."

"I get it. Do you not want to meet them?"

Cindy sighs. "No, that'd be great, but if I meet hers, she'll want to meet mine. And they're really annoying."

"You never went into detail about why yours are so bad," Ben points out in an attempt to get her to explain her thinking.

"Neither have you."

"Touché."

Cindy wordlessly grabs another slice of pizza. They're silent again, for Ben was giving her the time to gather her thoughts and explain what was going on.

"Sorry if I made you cancel plans with Leslie."

"It's okay; she's working late."

The small talk makes Cindy feel a sense of safety, so she takes a deep breath and opens up.

"My parents always liked my sister, you know. Blonde, smart, perfect. I was the rebellious one." Cindy's hands twitch in her want for a drink.

Ben waits for her to continue, not wanting to interrupt her. His brown eyes scan the area, his heart beat growing faster as he looks down at the grass that feels so far away.

"Chloe was responsible, I was reckless. She already knew what she wanted to do with her life; be a doctor. She got married 10 years ago to my brother-in-law and had my nephew 5 years later. It just made it easier for my parents to look between us and point out everything she was, and everything I'm not. Chloe isn't very understanding about our differences either, so it felt like me against the world."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'm used to them, but Sarah isn't. They don't need to hurt someone else."

"You've known Sarah for years. She doesn't know anything about your family?"

Cindy pauses for a moment, tilting her head and trying to find a good way to phrase her answer. "She knows my parents are challenging, just not the full extent of it." She breaks eye contact with Ben and looks around. She found their distance above the ground relaxing, unlike Ben, who was squirming.

"Can't you talk to her about why you don't want her to meet your parents?"

Cindy shifts uncomfortably, resting her hand on the shingles beside her to balance herself. "It's not that simple. I've known Sarah for five years; sometimes it's hard to get her to understand."

"If you don't tell her, then she'll never understand," Ben points out.

"You're right."

"Wow, you actually said I was right. We should've gotten that on tape," Ben snaps his fingers, feigning distress at his so-called negligence.

"Well, now no one will ever know."

"I could just tell them," Ben counters.

"As if they'd believe you," Cindy snorts annoyedly. She looks down at the almost-finished box of pizza. When did that happen?

"What do you say we go inside and finish this pizza with some cold beer?"

"Music to my ears. Seriously, though, if we're this high up for any longer, I might actually have a heart attack." Ben emphasizes his concern by looking pointedly at the ground before them.

Cindy swats his shoulder. "Stop looking down, stupid!"

"It's not that simple. Uhhh, how do we get down?"

"Ladders exist for a reason," Cindy singsongs snarkily.

Ben doesn't reply, choosing to instead look at her like he looks at everyone; as if he's the only sane one in the room.

To be fair, in this instance, he kind of is.

//

**Leslie - Want to come over?**

**Ben - I thought we were going to lay low for a few days. Besides, aren't you working late?**

**L - I know, but I miss you. >='(**

**L - And I finished early.**

**B - I'm surprised you're not using the time to jumpstart other projects.**

**L - I already did! I've got a few binders going! :)**

**B - I should've known. I'll be there in 15.**

**L - Good. ;)**

//

"Babe, I need to tell you something," Cindy says in an urgent tone as soon as Sarah lets her into her apartment.

"I need to tell _you_ something!" Sarah says excitedly. Her wide smile turns into a playful pout, and she gives Cindy puppy dog eyes. "Can I go first?"

As important as Cindy's news was, she couldn't resist that face. "Fine, you go first," she huffs, fighting a smile.

"My parents called me earlier today," Sarah says calmly, a drastic change from her former ecstatic manner.

"Yeah, I heard you talking to your mom."

"Yeah? Well, she and my dad are talking about moving to Indiana!"

"W-what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might post something this Friday, might not. new years eve and all that.


	13. Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cindy meets Sarah's family, but how does she react when Sarah implies she wants to meet hers? Meanwhile, Leslie and Ben, still mortified from the Ron Incident, are almost caught in a compromising position.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter starts off continuing the last scene in chapter 12

_"W-what?"_

Sarah's green eyes shine in her excitement. "Yeah, they're already looking for house!" She beamed.

"I thought you said they never leave New Hampshire."

"I guess they've changed. I really want you to meet them. It's kind of early, though, so if you want to wait, we can."

"Uh, no, yeah, I'd love to meet them," Cindy stammered, smiling at Sarah.

"Great! I'll call my parents and invite my siblings too. You've met my sister, but not my brother, I don't think."

"Does he live in New Hampshire?"

Sarah's nose scrunches up adorably in thought. "Yeah, he lives near my parents; I wonder if he's moving too. I'll go call them all now!" Sarah stalks off toward her bedroom, presumably where she had left her phone. She turns around to look at Cindy. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

*Shit.* "Uh, nothing. Ben and I had pizza yesterday."

"Oh. Oh! That's great; you haven't spent time together in forever."

"Yeah. Facts."

//

Leslie and Ben couldn't be more mortified about what Leslie has already dubbed "The Ron Incident." Leslie shifts in her seat and taps her nails against the wood of her desk in an effort to relieve her anxiety and get to work, but she can't exactly say it's working.

That was so embarrassing; Ron finding out about them like that. But it's okay, Leslie thinks, because she and Ben will strategize later. Right now, her job is to plan the best mini-horse funeral possible, and she's going to do just that.

Leslie quickly realizes she'll never get to focusing on the funeral fully without coming up with something for the strategy session later. She's Leslie Knope. She doesn't come unprepared.

She grabs a blue sticky note from beside her and taps her pen against the wood of her desk, then scribbles "Operation Shutdown," which she then underlines 3 times and sticks to the far end of her desk.

Now she can focus.

//

"They're really nice people, so don't be nervous," Sarah says, looking between her girlfriend and the road in front of her.

"I'm not nervous," Cindy says nonchalantly, looking out the car window.

"Uh-huh."

"I'm not!" Cindy says, giggling at Sarah.

"Okay, okay, I believe you!"

"You better." Cindy's blue eyes glare daggers into Sarah.

They're quiet for a few minutes. Cindy leans against the window and is about to fall asleep when Sarah wakes her up.

"Cindy?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," Cindy replies sleepily.

//

"Andy, I'm not your boss; I don't provide the shoe polish." Leslie tips her temples in exhaustion.

"Then who does?" Andy asks, but his eyes light up a moment later. "Ron!" His eyes light up at the realization, but then narrow curiously at the corner of Leslie's desk, so he takes a few steps closer to her.

"Yo, what's that?" He asks, grabbing the blue sticky note before she can hide it and pretend that it's nothing.

"Operation Shutdown," he reads. "Oh my God, Leslie, are you on a secret FBI mission? Can I help?"

"No, I'm not on a mission. Why would you think that? Maybe _you're_ on a mission, huh? Yeah, check and mate," Leslie tries to convince him in a loud, slightly squeaky voice.

Andy's eyes round and look down at her in a way that says that he doesn't believe her. "Well, if you _are_ on a mission, I know a great detective."

"Is it Burt Macklin?" Leslie asks exasperatedly.

"Shh! No one's supposed to know he's here!" Andy pulls out a card from his jacket pocket and hands it to her, mouthing "call him" and leaving the room.

"Wait! Have you been working on your song?" She calls, and he pops his head back in to answer her.

"Oh! Yeah, I was, but the shoe polish thing. And also I forgot my bag of marshmallows when I was here earlier. Thanks for reminding me, Leslie!"

Leslie looks down at the card and then back at Andy, who's already retreating toward Ron's office, but then takes a sharp turn out of the department once he realizes that Ron's not there.

Good. That song really needs to be finished.

//

The drive to Cheryl's house went longer than expected because of the traffic.

Sarah pulls into the driveway and parks the car in a good spot before looking over at Cindy, dozed off in her seat.

"Cindy? We're here."

"What? No, I wanna sleep," Cindy says, getting up and smoothing her hair down anyway.

"Hey sis," Cheryl comes out of the house to greet her. "And, Cindy, was it? I remember you." She tilts her head up in confusion, like she's trying to recover a past memory.

"Stop pretending you barely remember her," Sarah laughs as she reprimands her.

Cheryl winks at them cockily and walks toward the house. "Mom and Dad are inside making cookies."

"Mom's famous chocolate chip?"

"You know it."

//

Leslie and Ben walk down the hallway in their usual manner as to not attract suspicion.

"Ann's office is a no-go," Leslie said through nervously clenched teeth.

"Is she in there?"

"Yeah."

"Bummer. We can make out later, I guess," Ben says, lowering his voice even more than it already was as they stop in front of his office.

"I have an idea," Leslie says, poking the side of her cheek with her tongue as to portray an innocent demeanour, but the evil glint in her eye gives it away.

"I'm gonna regret this, but shoot."

Leslie says nothing, instead choosing to glance to her right pointedly at a nearby supply closet.

"Leslie," Ben says in an effort to reason with her.

"What? It was just a suggestion. You connected the dots, not me." At this point, her face has broken out into a satisfied grin, like she knows that he's going to give in.

Ben looks between her and the supply closet, which he's pretty sure is a janitorial one, and exhales. "Let's go," he says.

//

"Sarah's told me so much about you! You can call me Leah." Sarah's mother gushes over Cindy before putting a tray of cookies into she oven and closing it. She wipes her hands on her apron and erratically runs a hand through her greying hair.

"I really haven't," Sarah admits.

"For the record, I had no idea you existed," A man in the back pipes up.

"Cindy, that idiot who just spoke is Jason, my big brother." Sarah flashes her brother a cheeky grin and Cindy can't help but note the older, bald man in the back rolling his eyes at Sarah's banter.

Sarah subtly nudges Cindy's side, looking over at the man next to Jason. "This is my father."

"Uh, hi, Mr. Ross."

"Jeff," he kindly corrects her.

"Want some cookies?" Leah grabs a full tray of cookies from out of nowhere and holds it out to Cindy.

"Didn't you just put those in the oven?" Cheryl calls from the living room.

"No, that was my second batch."

"Why don't we wait until we know Cindy a little better before we start trying to fatten her up?" Jeff quips, and his wife glares at him.

He raises his hands in front of him in defeat, hiding a smile. Leah visibly softens.

"Fine."

//

The janitor's closet is pretty crowded despite being pretty large. It's dark. There's a mop and broom in the corner and a long cloth-covered table packed with bleach and disinfectant sprays. There are large yellow caution signs in another corner along with a mop bucket full of dirty water.

Before either of them could say a word, Leslie pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Ben's.

Ben returns the kiss enthusiastically, his arms sliding around Leslie's waist as hers came up around his neck.

Naturally, the kisses start to get more intense, both of them drowning out the world around them and letting out involuntary moans as their hands explore each other.

Leslie starts to pull away to catch her breath. Ben's hair is mussed and his lips are red from the pressure, but the best part of it to Leslie was the fact that she probably looked as far gone and messy as him, which is confirmed when she brushes a hand against her chest and notices the first few buttons of her top undone.

An unknown noise sounds outside the door, making Leslie's heart rate quicken.

"What was that?" Ben asks, concern evident in his voice.

"Someone's coming." Leslie roughly grabs Ben's arm and yanks them to the ground. They crawl under the table, conveniently covered by that white tablecloth.

The moment they slide under the table, the door opens, and someone walks in.

"What do we do now?" Leslie asks.

"We are so going to get fired," Ben mutters in return.

//

After eating a few cookies and chatting about the weather, they eat lunch outside on the patio.

Cindy had been sitting there silently while wondering whether or not she should start a conversation.

Thankfully, she doesn't have to, as Leah starts her interrogation.

"So," Leah says, looking around at her family, "What do you do for work, Cindy?"

Cindy looks up from her bowl of soup. "I work for the County Commissioner."

"Uh-huh. What exactly do you do there?" Jeff asks, genuinely curious. He wipes the corner of his mouth with his napkin.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know," Sarah chimes in.

"She's not wrong," Cindy laughs, feeling like a little weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

"Uh-huh," Leah says. Cindy can't tell if it was a judgemental reply or if she's reading into it too much, but decides not to focus on that right now.

//

"We're dead," Ben whispers into Leslie's ear.

Leslie wordlessly places a hand on Ben's thigh and scooches closer to him.

They can both hear the person moving around the closet, their keys jingling loudly. A cabinet door opens and closes. The footsteps start to get impossibly louder, stopping in front if the table, causing Leslie and Ben to hold their breaths.

The unknown person shuffles some things around on top of the table. Leslie clenches all of her muscles in nervousness.

Her nose starts to itch.

Oh no. Not now. Crap.

_No, Leslie. No sneezing. No. Do not sneeze. Do not. You can do this._

She covers her mouth and Ben looks over at her in concern.

_Don't lift the tablecloth. Don't. For the love of God, no._

Finally, Leslie and Ben can hear the janitor make their exit, the door slamming shut.

She lets the dam burst and sneezes.

"Bless you," Ben says sweetly, then breathing a loud sigh of relief as they move the tablecloth out of the way and get up.

"Thanks."

"Good lord. What is wrong with us?"

"Blame Chris. It's his rule that's making us do this," Leslie says half-seriously.

"Agreed."

//

"So, how'd you like my family?" Sarah asked Cindy, after she closed her apartment door.

"They were cool. I'm pretty sure your mom was judging me at first," Cindy yawned.

Sarah rubbed Cindy's shoulder and they both sat down in the couch at the same time. "She told me you passed the test. Frankly, I don't understand what exactly she got out of the test, but let's take our wins where we can get them."

"Agreed. How long do we have until L'il Sebastian's funeral?" Cindy asked.

"A few hours. I'm glad we took the day off."

"Me too."

"So... when do I get to meet your parents?" Sarah asks Cindy with a strange hint of humor in her voice.

Cindy freezes, and Sarah pulls her hand away from her shoulder.

"I don't know."

An awkward silence up surrounds them for a beat. 

"Did I do something?" Sarah blurts out.

"What?"

"Did I do something?"

"No.... why?"

"I don't know. You don't seem to want me to meet them."

"It's not you. It's just... complicated, okay?"

"Oh. Okay." Sarah scoots away from Cindy awkwardly.

She believes Cindy.

She does.

Doesn't she?

//

It's been a weird day. It went from Ron playing that embarrassing voicemail to Leslie and Ben to almost getting caught in a supply closet to actually getting caught by a maintenance worker, which led them to setting Ron's face on fire and cringing at his singed eyebrows and burnt mustache.

More importantly, why is Cindy trying to juggle paper balls?

Maybe it's best she doesn't know.

She and Ben finally got the chance to talk Operation Shutdown.

In all honesty, they shouldn't have been fooling around at work in the first place, but they couldn't keep their hands off each other. It's why when Ben claimed his trying to kiss her was because of force of habit, she didn't know if it was a habit she wanted him to break, because it didn't feel like a bad one.

Per Chris' government rules, it was, so they just had to suck it up for a while.

Leslie could do that. At work, she could treat Ben like the friend and boss that he's supposed to be, and kiss his face off at home.

Plus, she kind of likes the idea of having a dirty little secret, and she doesn't doubt that Ben does too.

"Excuse me. Are you Leslie Knope?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fight me 
> 
> also is my attempt to create drama forced or is it good lmao


	14. Trouble In Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ben try to figure out how to break up with each other. Meanwhile, tension arises between Cindy and Sarah. They try to ignore it, but something's got to give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!

"Cindy, Cindy, I need your help."

Cindy whips her head up to see Leslie standing in front of her desk. She looks around at her co-workers, all focused on their tasks and fortunately not paying attention.

"What's up?"

"I need to break up with Ben."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why?"

"I got approached to run for City Council and I told them I had no skeletons in my closet but I do because if it gets out that I'm dating Ben it will become a huge scandal and Ann was no help so please please please help me break up with him," Leslie says it quickly, all in one breath.

Cindy stands up and pulls a chair over in front of her desk, gesturing for Leslie to sit down.

A few moments pass before Leslie finally calms down and looks to Cindy with pain in her eyes. "What should I do?" She bites her lip nervously but doesn't break eye contact.

"I don't know. Make a note with ransom letters or something."

The pointed look Leslie gives her proves that she does not appreciate the joke.

"Okay, well, how have people broken up with you before?" Cindy asks.

Leslie's eyes widen. "Oh! One guy broke up with me over skywriting."

"What the- Okay, we're not doing that."

"Too bad. I already had some ideas for that."

"What did Ann tell you to do?"

Leslie sighs. "She says I need to be direct and honest with him. I was thinking he and I could run away to Costa Rica and live in a cave for the rest of our lives."

"Why Costa Rica?"

Leslie's face scrunched up in thought. "I don't really know."

"Ann's right. Just be direct and honest with him."

Leslie groans.

//

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Want to get lunch today?" Cindy asks, leaning back in her desk chair.

Cindy can hear Sarah shift uncomfortably over the phone. "I don't know, I might be busy."

"Oh. Okay. We'll talk later. Love you.

They hang up, and Cindy can't help but notice that Sarah didn't say it back.

The tension between the two of them was higher than ever.

At first, Cindy thought Sarah was stressed from her new job, what with her working late every now and then, but then she realized if that were the issue, it would have caused a problem a long time ago.

It could be the thing with her parents, but Cindy's pretty sure that she made it obvious that her not wanting to open the can of worms that they are has nothing to do with her.

Or maybe she didn't.

If that's the case, they're going to have to have a little talk.

//

Ben would be working on the city's budget proposals, but he's too busy planning something of his own: How to break up with Leslie.

Ben's stomach flops, and his anxiety skyrockets at the thought. This nightmare he's stuck in, the one he has no control over, is breaking him slowly (or quickly) from the inside out.

He's thought about it from all standpoints. Granted, most of his contemplation occurred while he was in bed, dreading life without Leslie sleeping beside him, but it still counts. There's simply no other way for Leslie to have a great career than to remove himself from her life.

And that's what he's going to do because he's not going to be the one to stop innovative, problem-solving, passionate, _deserving_ Leslie Knope from achieving her dreams.

The fact that maintaining distance from her will rip him apart has nothing to do with it.

//

Sarah is walking quickly back to her office after stocking some files away when she spots a familiar brunette standing by the door.

She winces. It's not that she didn't want to see Cindy, but they're both aware of the tension that only seems to be getting higher.

"Hey," Cindy says.

"Hey. What's up?"

"I think we need to talk."

Sarah can feel her pulse quickening before Cindy reassures her.

"Calm down; it's nothing bad." Cindy rolls her eyes good-naturedly, teasing her, and Sarah feels the invisible weight on her shoulders starting to lighten.

As Sarah curls her fingers around the door handle and starts to turn it, an intern rushes over to her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Sarah, we need your help. Eddie's trying to juggle coffee cups again," the young woman says.

Sarah looks over to Cindy apologetically, trying to will her to understand. It seems to work because Cindy waves it off dismissively.

"It's okay," she says.

Sarah sighs in relief as she starts to walk away.

As she turns around, Cindy calls, "You'll pay for this later!"

"Whatever you say, Cindy."

//

"We have to break up."

"Why? Why do we have to break up?"

The rest of the conversation goes by in a blur, Leslie and Ben each going their separate ways.

This sacrifice is supposed to feel right. Leslie's supposed to feel excited about this new opportunity regarding her career, and while that does liven her up a little, she can't help but think about what she's left behind.

Is this even worth it? She can't tell.

Her whole life, she's been hard-working and hard-headed. Her goals have always been work-related. Everyone she knows can confirm that.

Her eyes hurt from trying to hold the tears back, and she gives up, breaking down inside her car.

God, if only she were hard-hearted.

//

Ben lays down on his bed after a long, painful day.

The afternoon he met Cindy floods back into his mind, and he remembers her offer for them to talk about their mutual frustration, so he picks up his phone from beside him and dials her.

"Hey, Ben! What's up?"

"Leslie and I just broke up."

He can hear her sigh from the other end of the line, and he feels feelings of gratitude and relief by her unintended reminder that he's not going through this alone.

"I'm sorry, dude. Anything I can do? You want to talk about it?"

Ben smiles at the thought, knowing that Cindy doesn't suggest that kind of thing to just anyone.

He's silent for a minute or two, seriously thinking about the idea of opening up about the pain. Ultimately, he decides against it, realizing that what he needs is a sense of normalcy and Cindy to distract him with her sarcastic remarks.

"Not yet. Tell me about your day."

"Ew."

"How is that disgusting?" Ben asks.

"It just is. Well, if you wanna know, Sarah's mad at me and I have _no_ idea why."

Ben's eyes narrow, and he shifts in his position on his bed. "Then how do you know she's mad?"

Cindy huffs. "I just do. I'm waiting for her to come over. I told her we needed to talk."

"Please tell me you didn't say it like that."

"Very funny, Ben. And technically, I did. It's fine; she knows it's not anything bad."

"Are you sure about that?"

Cindy ignores the question, countering with her own. "Do you want me to shove a canister of whipped cream down your throat?"

Ben winces. "Don't say whipped cream."

"Oh, God, sorry. I wasn't thinking."

Ben dismisses it, not wanting to talk about it any longer than he has to.

"It's fine. What are you gonna tell Sarah?"

"I figured I'd just ask her why she's mad at me."

Ben sighs. "Not everyone's as blunt as you, Cindy. She might not tell you that quickly."

"Well, not everyone's a passive-aggressive dumbass, either," Cindy taunts.

Ben smirks. "Touché."

A knock sounds on Cindy's end of the line. "Duty calls. I gotta go."

"Say hi to Sarah for me!"

"Fine."

They hang up.

Ben sighs for the millionth time that day, spreading out his limbs on the bed as if he were forming a snow angel. It doesn't necessarily comfort him that he's not alone in having had a bad day, but it makes him aware it's not him against the world.

He decides he's allowed to take today to wallow in self-pity about having to give up Leslie because tomorrow, he'll have to wake up, suck it up, go to work, and face the music.

Each day, he'll have to get up and do that; go to work, and survive.

Funny how his plans of survival feel like they're going to kill him.

//

"Hey," Cindy says.

"Hi," Sarah replies. Her shoulders are hunching a bit forward, and Cindy can't help but wonder if it's because of all the awkward interaction that there's way too much of lately.

Cindy steps to the side, the door swinging wide open to give Sarah space to let herself inside.

Her bluntness takes over the moment Sarah does so."Why are you mad at me?"

Sarah's face scrunches up in confusion. "What? I'm not mad, are you mad?"

"What?" Cindy facepalms. "Look, ever since I met your parents, things haven't been the same. Are you having doubts about us?"

Sarah's features switch from confused to angry in a matter of seconds. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cindy opens her mouth to answer with a snarky comment, but that notion gets delayed when Sarah interrupts her.

"If anything, you're the one having doubts!" Sarah says, the volume of her voice starting to rise.

Cindy pauses. "Is this about not wanting you to meet my parents?"

"Yes! What do you think?"

Cindy can feel her own anger starting to rise, but she makes her best effort to tamp it down. "I told you that had nothing to do with you," she says coolly.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Sarah says, her voice, fortunately, getting a little lower. "You didn't want to explain why it was 'complicated.' If you don't want to talk about the complicated, how serious can this relationship be?"

"Very serious if I care about you enough to not subject you to the hell that is my family. I was trying to protect you!" That last sentence comes off very snappy on Cindy's end, but she's tamped down her anger long enough.

"Well, I don't need you to protect me!" Sarah yells, her hand coming up to her head to push the hair out of her face.

"Then what do you need?" Cindy snaps, her hand coming up to rest on her hip for a second before dropping it back down.

"I don't know anymore," Sarah's voice softens dramatically, her voice lowering to a whisper, which doesn't match the hands she threw up in the air.

"Well, then what do we do?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"You seemed to have all the answers a minute ago," Cindy says snarkily.

"What does that even mean? I'm getting out of here."

"Fine."

"Fine!" Sarah turns around angrily and opens the door, slamming it roughly as she stomps through the front yard to her car.

Cindy watches Sarah leave through the window. When she does, Cindy turns back around and leans against it, her head dropping into her hands while she slides to a seated position on the ground.

"What just happened?" Cindy asks the air.

//

After taking a shower and putting on some comfy pajamas, Leslie lays down on her sofa, wanting to forget that this day ever happened.

The exhaustion has taken over her, but she doesn't want to go to sleep. Leslie knows she'll dream about Ben. And even if she doesn't, she feels like she should.

She lifts herself off the couch, trying to hold more tears back.

_You've cried enough already._

She's about to prepare to make another binder with more questions for her campaign managers when there's a knock at the door.

Leslie mopes over to the door, opening it slowly.

Sarah's standing there in the doorway, and Leslie does a double-take.

Sarah looks a lot like Leslie feels. She's in tears, her mascara running down her cheeks and hair everywhere.

"What the hell happened?"

"Leslie, I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you liked it!


	15. We Need to Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ben try to put aside their problems to get Cindy and Sarah back together, but are they successful?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up Cindy and April vibe hard in this chapter and I love it

Ben rarely sleeps late, which used to be because he had a lot of work to do, but after moving in with April and Andy, their constant disturbance became the reason that he didn't rest as much as he'd like. It's unfortunate, especially now, because after breaking up with Leslie, Ben wants to get as little of the real world as possible.

All those annoyances are what brings him to where he is right now; curled up in a ball on his bed while wrapped inside a fluffy blanket.

But alas, he never seems to get what he wants. He realizes this when there's a knock at the door.

Ben wakes up groggily and groans, hoping whoever was there would go away eventually.

The knock sounds again, and Ben concludes that he might as well answer it because he was never going to fall back asleep after that anyway.

Ben opens the door with a grimace, which works out given the person in front of him.

"Leslie."

"Hey."

She looks beautiful, and he inwardly condemns himself for thinking so, as he knows deep down he doesn't have the right to anymore.

"What's going on?"

Leslie sighs. "We should probably be avoiding each other for a while, _but_ something came up." She gave him a knowing look, and a bewildered Ben took a long glance at his surroundings and then back at Leslie, confused as ever.

"Okay. What is it?"

Leslie leans forward, evidently puzzled herself. "Cindy didn't tell you?"

"Last time I talked to her was yesterday. She hung up when Sarah came over."

"You were the last one that talked to her?"

"Maybe. What happened?"

Leslie pauses for a moment as if thinking about what she wants to say. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," he says, rightfully a little skeptical on the idea.

She stands there awkwardly, waiting for something.

"Oh!" He realizes, stepping aside to let her in.

_God, I'm such an idiot._

When she walks in, a silence fills the air. An uncomfortable one; they're both aware of the elephant in the room, the thing they both want to address but can't because they're here to talk about something else.

They just broke up, and now they're forced together to talk about other people; it's insane.

"I know you need your space," Leslie starts. "I need mine too. But Cindy and Sarah need our help. Let's focus on them. Are you with me here?" Leslie asks with her head somewhat slanted to her right, and Ben has to repress a smile at how cute that is.

_Stop thinking she's cute, dumbass! Nobody needs that right now._

He doesn't recognize that he's been standing there quietly for a few seconds until Leslie's eyes flit around the living room and back to him expectantly.

"Oh, uh, sorry." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, sure, let's do it."

//

Cindy hasn't done much today, unless you count her moping around her home eating Doritos.

In all honesty, the Doritos had nothing to do with her evident depression; she just hasn't eaten today, and Doritos are amazing.

Something snaps outside, and she walks over to the window, assuming it's just her neighbor's cat that she sometimes feeds for him.

She should get a cat.

When she pushes the drapes to the side, the realization that it's not the cat comes rather quickly.

"Leslie?"

She runs over to the door, the most energy she's used all day, to meet Leslie.

"Hey," Cindy says, closing the door behind her after she opens it, so they're both standing outside.

"Hi. So I was thinking, we're both having some relationship problems, maybe we should go somewhere and talk about that."

"Uh-huh," She says, with a distrustful but not hostile tone. "Let me guess; did a little birdy tell you about what happened?"

Leslie, fortunately, appears to catch on to the joke, or lack thereof.

"You could say that."

"Do you want to go to JJ's?" Cindy asked, watching as Leslie's eyes shined and then brightened again like she had gotten an idea.

"Yeah, let's do it."

"Be right back," Cindy said, opening her front door again and then disappearing inside.

//

**Leslie - I've got Cindy. Are you getting anywhere with Sarah?**

**Ben - Kind of? How did you get Cindy? I figure she'd be the hardest.**

**L - I told her we could talk about our relationship problems. She thinks we're going to JJ's.**

Ben doesn't reply for a few moments. Leslie sighs, hoping that her mention of their split didn't throw him off guard.

**B - Good idea. I still don't get why I couldn't talk to Cindy and you Sarah.**

**L - It's sneakier that way. They'll never know what hit them.**

**B - Again, Leslie, you're not that sneaky. Also, isn't this more suspicious?**

**L - Neither are you, so hush.**   
**L - Stop pointing out holes in my plan. I have a super system.**

**B - Where are we taking them?**

**L - That's a good question.**

**B - The JJ's thing sounds good. Let's do that.**

**L - Good idea. There's never a problem that can't be solved with breakfast food.**

**B - Sarah's getting suspicious. GTG.**

"What was that about?" Sarah asks as Ben puts his phone away.

"Uhhh, nothing much."

"Right." Sarah's eyes narrow, letting Ben know she doesn't believe him. "What are you doing here again?"

"I know Cindy regrets what happened. Thought I'd come and check on you."

"Well, we are both having trouble in the romance department lately," Sarah muses.

Ben looks at the ground, suddenly feeling the urge to take off his shoes and hold them in his hand. He fights that urge successfully, but that sadly doesn't couple with his need to cry. He closes his eyes to fight that too, every muscle in his body in pain.

"Ben?"

"Oh, hi. Sorry. I spaced out for a moment."

"Don't worry about it," Sarah says, her tone now soothing like she's trying to lull a baby to sleep.

Ben releases himself, trying to relax his muscles. He's not the focus right now, and he doesn't want anyone's sympathy.

"Um, thanks. Do you want to go to JJ's?" He winces, realizing he had asked the question way too quickly. She's not going to trust him; this plan is going to fail; good lord, why did he even agree to this? Everything is going to—

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sarah says, interrupting his mental spiral.

"What?"

"I said I'll go," Sarah says, her neutral expression immediately switching to one of concern. "Are you okay?"

"What? No, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Are you ready to go?"

Ben can feel himself babbling, and the idea of holding his shoes in his hands never sounded as appealing as it does right now.

"Yeah, let me get my phone."

**B - Mission success.**

//

Leslie's glad that she's the one driving; if she weren't, then nothing would have stopped her from grabbing her phone and looking through her and Ben's old text messages.

A lot of things occurred over text; sexting, playful banter, spamming heart emojis.

That last one was mostly her, but Ben never complained.

"Are you thinking about Ben again?" Cindy asks, breaking through Leslie's one-track thoughts.

"What? No! I don't ever think about him... ever. Like, ever." Leslie squeaks.

"You've got that look in your eye."

"That could be anything," Leslie says.

Cindy nods ironically. "Right."

They're silent for a few more minutes before Leslie pulls into the driveway of the very familiar JJ's Diner.

Cindy and Leslie get out of the car. They walk inside, and Leslie immediately spots Sarah and Ben sitting in a booth.

Cindy looks to Leslie in concern. "Is that Ben with another girl? I'll kill him for you," she says, having not recognized the back of Sarah's head. Cindy storms ahead of Leslie.

Leslie squeezes her eyes shut, bracing for impact.

"Wait, wait. What is going on here?"

"Cindy, it's not what you think," Leslie starts, rushing over to her.

"Either Sarah and Ben are dating, which I _highly_ doubt, or he and Leslie set this up. Care to explain?" Cindy looks between Leslie and Ben with a miffed expression.

"Hold on. This was a set-up?" Sarah asks, getting up from her seat.

"You didn't know about this?" Cindy asks, her expression not fading even a little.

"NO!" Sarah says, standing to the right of Cindy and looking equally pissed.

"I'm getting out of here," Cindy says, throwing her hands up in the air and running out quickly.

Leslie and Ben stand there, stunned, while Sarah makes her exit as well.

Ben's head drops into his hands, and he slumps back into the booth seat. "What are we going to do?" He mutters to himself, loud enough for Leslie to hear.

Her eyes light up again. "I have an idea."

Ben groans. "Whatever it is, no. We're just making this worse, Leslie."

Leslie rolls her eyes at his self-deprecation. "Just listen to me."

//

"Why do you need our help?" April asks while Andy rests his chin on top of her head with his arms around her.

"Our plan didn't work; we need to call in some reinforcements," Leslie said. She left out the fact that April and Cindy were soul sisters.

"You're taking this way too seriously." April accuses, sliding out of Andy's arms and boosting herself onto the kitchen counter.

"Not helpful."

"Andy, you've been surprisingly quiet. What are you thinking?" Ben asks.

"I think we should help. Babe, this is our chance to help people have the love we do."

"But that makes it less special for us," April pointed out.

"Can't argue with that one," Andy points at his wife while looking at Ben.

"Give us 100,000 dollars, and we'll do it."

"How about I give you twenty?" Leslie says to April.

"Done."

//

**Ben - Hey, we need to talk.**

**Cindy - Do we?**

**Ben - Yes. Come over later. Or don't. I'm not going to force you.**

When Cindy sees that text message, her eyebrow quirks up, and her curiosity piques.

She huffs and grabs her purse, tossing her phone inside it and speed walking out the door.

//

Leslie dials Sarah.

Surprisingly, she picks up.

Leslie's anxiety gets the best of her, and she starts rambling out an apology before Sarah can even talk.

"I'm so, so sorry about what happened. But I know you're regretting this. You really need to talk to Cindy. Break up, make up, it doesn't matter. Just talk to her."

She hangs up before Sarah can say anything.

That might not have been the best decision, she realizes. Now she doesn't know what Sarah is going to do.

//

Cindy knocks on Ben's door, and she's pleasantly surprised to find that April's the one greeting her.

"Ben's in the bathroom," she says, barely giving her any eye contact as she turns and starts for the kitchen.

Cindy follows.

"Ben's lame," April says, "you should run while you still can."

"Trust me, I've tried," Cindy says.

They're silent for a beat before Cindy mutters, "We're all going to be in our eighties by the time Ben gets out of there."

"Let's take his phone and confess his love to Chris," April suggests excitedly.

"That's an awesome idea!"

"No need for that," Ben says, "I'm here now."

"Took you long enough."

They leave for Ben's room, Cindy shooting a smile behind her at April as she walks off.

"Leslie and I are really sorry about what happened," Ben says as soon as his door closes.

"Don't worry about it," Cindy sighs. "I do like to hold grudges, but I think this time, I was just looking for someone else to be mad at."

"It's been a crazy couple of days," Ben muses.

Cindy nods. "For both of us."

"You really need to talk to Sarah."

"I know," she sighs. "But how? I have _no idea_ where she is."

Her phone pings.

"Speak of the devil," Cindy says, her eyes widening in surprise.

**Sarah - Meet me at my apartment tonight. We need to talk.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was gonna be longer but then I decided to spread out some plot points and other dumb shit so lmao


	16. Break Up or Make Up; It Doesn't Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The decision Cindy and Sarah made to meet her parents might not have been the wisest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is pretty Cindy and Sarah centered so sorry if that bores you

_Break up or make up; it doesn't matter._

Those words ring in Sarah's ears as she waits outside her apartment building for Cindy. If she even shows.

Fortunately, she didn't have to be alone with her thoughts for long, as she sees Cindy's blue car pulling into the driveway.

Sarah fights the urge to go to her and keeps herself seated on the boulder bench.

Cindy looks beautiful. Her brown hair is down and blowing ever-so-gently in the wind while her royal blue shirt, partially hidden her black jacket, perfectly matches her eyes.

She sits down beside her on the long bench.

"Thanks for meeting me here," Sarah says.

"We needed to have this conversation sometime," Cindy says, breaking eye contact and staring at the dark sky ahead of her. There are cars parked in the parking lot nearby, you can see the distant lights of tall buildings, and the stars sparkle brightly.

It gives them both something to focus on; something to calm their nerves and make whatever scene was about to play out less awkward.

"So uh, Leslie and Ben..." She trails off.

"It sounds like they really want us to talk," Cindy says, her elbows assisting her in her shrug while her hands rest in the pockets of her jacket.

"I guess it does. Do you- Do you want to talk?"

"Well, yeah. as much as I'd like to, we can't avoid this forever."

They're silent for a few beats, both of them looking at the stars once again. Sarah wonders if Cindy's thinking the same thing she is, about if there are beings out there watching them, relating to them. Do they have similar problems, or is this all foreign to them?

Then Sarah's eyes narrow as she realizes she's thinking about aliens while trying to have a heart-to-heart with her girlfriend.

"You know," Sarah finally breaks the silence, "I really regret the way that whole fight went down."

Cindy sighs in relief. "Me too." She pauses. "Thinking about it now, maybe you should meet my family."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but if they start being assholes, just remember, I told you so."

Sarah grins. "Deal."

Sarah leans forward and presses her lips to Cindy's. Cindy's hands tangle in her hair as Sarah's rests on her hip.

This lasts for a little while, their kisses slowly but surely getting more and more intense.

When Sarah pulls away, they gaze at each other. Sarah's hair is mussed and Cindy's red lipstick is smudged.

"Let's go inside," Sarah says with a knowing smirk, taking Cindy's hand and getting off the bench.

//

Ben wakes up after a restless sleep.

Opening his phone, he's surprised to find a text message from Cindy. Usually he texts her and she doesn't reply until hours later with an excuse about how she had to commit mass murder. Slight exaggeration, he supposes, but at the same time, not really.

**Cindy - Image received.**

Ben opens the photo and his eyes widen at the sight of Cindy and Sarah fiercely making out on her couch.

Maybe he's imagining it, but he can feel his eyes burning as if he were a little kid who just saw his parents kissing.

Don't get him wrong, he's relieved that Cindy and Sarah seem to have resolved their issues, but he doesn't feel like he's in the wrong for not wanting to see such... graphic images?

The thought comes off as a question in his mind because he's not sure if the photo is actually graphic, but he decides not to think about that at the moment. Best not to relive the trauma.

Then again, it did wake him up, so he's gotta give them that one.

He invites Leslie over to talk about it with a quick text message and gets dressed as he awaits her arrival.

It doesn't take long for Leslie to arrive and knock on the door. It never does.

"Hi!" Leslie says, a little too cheerfully. She looks as if she's eaten 100 of those god-awful Nutriyum bars before coming over here, which Ben hopes, for his sake and her own, isn't the case.

"Hey. April and Andy are home," he says, and he's not really sure why. Maybe his subconscious or whatever thought that letting her know that would prevent any repercussions or awkward moments.

"Oh, that's good! I want to talk to them," Leslie says, fortunately not picking up on the issue or Ben's latest mental spiral. Maybe she's used to them and knows it's best not to bring it up sometimes. Ben shakes his head, trying to prevent yet another one.

He steps aside to let Leslie in. She's instantly greeted by April and Andy's laughter in the hallway.

"Oh, hey, Leslie!" Andy says, a little too innocently.

"Hi," Leslie says warily. "Wanted to talk to you about the Cindy thing. We— _I—_ gave you twenty dollars and you did nothing."

April grins. "Yeah, what were you thinking on that one?"

Ben rubs the spot between his eyebrows in an interesting mix between exhaustion and frustration as he comes to Leslie's defense. "Not the point," he mutters. "Did you guys _do_ anything?" His tone switched to incredulous as he asks the question.

"Other than buying pizza and putting weird things in the microwave? No, not really," April deadpans.

"Wait, that's why the microwave isn't working anymore?" Ben asks.

Leslie rolls her eyes. "I came all this way and I got nowhere with them."

"You know, your house isn't actually that far away," Ben points out. He curses himself in his head, hoping that April and Andy don't ask exactly why he knows that.

Fortunately, they don't seem to be paying much attention, as they are now furiously making out. Ben looks away in disgust and is instantly reminded of the _lovely_ photo he received from Cindy earlier this morning.

"Not the point, Wyatt," Leslie says, a bitter tone overcoming her previous unrealistically energetic demeanor. Her phone buzzes with a text message, and she opens it up.

"Campaign stuff, gotta go," she says, and Ben hangs his head in sadness at the reminder of why they broke up.

"Need anything, boss?"

"Again, you don't need to call me- Never mind. Not now, but thanks for offering."

As she walks off, she groans, "Ugh, I forgot about the sugar crash."

Turns out his theory about the Nutriyum bars was pretty spot-on.

//

Leslie goes back home with a feeling of emptiness washing over her. If you were Ann or Sarah, you'd know why she was feeling this way, but after having a mental breakdown the night she and Ben broke up, she wanted to deny her sadness for a little while.

Which is apparently not what the universe wants her to do because everything in her home reminds her of Ben.

Her sheets and pillows still smell like him, and Leslie can't decide whether or not to wash them. On the one hand, it would help her move on. But on the other hand, it comforted her. Besides, it was moot. Even if she cleaned her entire bedroom (which, by the way, is long overdue), she could never forget him; how he smelled, how he looked, how he did anything.

Leslie finds herself breathing in the scent of the pillows, but then she freezes and drops them.

_Better to wash them. This is just creepy._

So she does exactly that. She washes her sheets and her pillows and her pillowcases and cleans up the clutter in her bedroom. It's a Sunday afternoon, and she has nothing to do, and even though it's the weekend, productivity is always a must.

After cleaning up her entire bedroom, Leslie still has a few hours to kill before going to bed, so she answers campaign emails but finds her eyes growing heavier and heavier as each minute passes.

After a few minutes of Leslie's eyes closing and then opening quickly to get back to her work, they close and don't open again for a while.

//

"I still don't know why you want to meet them," Cindy says as she pulls into the driveway of her parents' home.

"Honestly, Cindy, I said a million times we don't have to do this," Sarah replies.

"Yes, but I like complaining."

She pauses for a second and then turns to Sarah and says, "We need to set up some ground rules."

"You always break the rules; isn't that a little hypocritical? And shouldn't we have talked about this before we got here?" She says teasingly, her green eyes twinkling in the sunlight of an early Sunday morning.

"I forgot, okay? And yeah, I break the rules, but these are very important. One: If they say anything weird about me when I'm not in the room, let me know so I can murder them."

"Can you please take this seriously?" She whispers.

"Who said I wasn't being serious?"

"I hate you so much," Sarah says.

"No, you love me."

Sarah pauses. "True, but I still hate you."

"I don't think that's how that works."

"I'm going to kill you... and then kill you again," Sarah threatens.

"Someone's cranky today."

"You were the cranky one moments ago."

"Yeah, but you make me happier, so... ew, that was gross. I'm gonna stop talking now."

"Wait, what are the other ground rules?"

"Honestly, I forgot. Oh! Not a ground-rule but important: If you're worried about them not liking you, don't. They'll hate you no matter what you do," Cindy says.

"Not reassuring."

"I'm just comforting you with my sarcastic wisdom."

"Not a thing," Sarah mutters.

Suddenly, a woman knocks on Cindy's car window, and Sarah screams.

"Lucinda, is that you?"

Cindy looks at Sarah and rolls her eyes before turning back to her sister and rolling down the window.

"No, it's your Uncle Cletus," she deadpans as she gets out of the car.

Sarah sits there, frozen. Cindy gestures for her to come, and she awkwardly opens the car door and steps out, standing behind Cindy.

"I'm Chloe!" Cindy's sister says to Sarah.

"Sarah," Sarah says in reply, waving her hand awkwardly.

"Mom and Dad are dying to meet you!"

"Um, cool."

As they go inside, Sarah mouths to Cindy, "Lucinda?"

"Shut up," she mouths back.

//

"Oh, she's lovely!" Cindy's mom says.

"Uh, thank you?" Sarah says.

"Mom, stop embarrassing her," Cindy laughs.

"Mind your manners, sweetheart. You know, you should always respect your elders."

"Hitler's older than me. Should I respect him?" Cindy mutters. "Did you bring Jesse?" She then asks, her blue eyes shining.

"No, he's at home with my husband," Chloe says. It comes off a little clipped and bitter. It makes Cindy's face fall for a fraction of a second before it hardens again.

"Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he went to go pick up some food. Should be here any minute."

"Great."

Cindy's mother, whose name Sarah has not yet learned and is too afraid to ask, turns to Cindy and says, "You know, I was surprised when you called and said you wanted us to meet someone."

"Is it so inconceivable that I'm in a relationship?" Cindy joked.

"No. We just figured you gave up after what's-his-name. David?"

Sarah looks around between them all and notices the tension in the room getting impossibly higher. Cindy is visibly affected by the mention of him. She sighs and says, "Daniel. Can we not talk about that?

"It's not a big deal, Cindy. Just because he's your ex—

"Chloe, we are not discussing this," Cindy interrupts her. "Where the hell is Dad?"

"You are way overreacting," Chloe mutters. "Anyway, I haven't told you guys yet but—

"Oh, Lord, what is it?" Sarah hears Cindy whisper under her breath.

"—Scott and I are trying to have another baby!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Cindy's mother gushes.

"What's wonderful?" A man's voice calls from behind them.

Cindy's mom gets up and walks quickly over to him, grabbing the boxes of pizza he holds in his hands and pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. "Chloe and Scott want to have another baby. Also, Lucinda and her friend are here."

Sarah snorts, and Cindy jokingly glares at her. She's just teasing; Sarah kind of already knew her name, but it's fun to mess with her.

"Oh, Lucy's here!"

From the corner of her eye, Sarah can see Chloe rolling her eyes. It's worse than she thought.

More importantly, Sarah's immediately drawn to those familiar blue eyes Cindy's father has, and she smiles at the man.

Cindy gets up to hug her father, which surprises Sarah, because she's almost positive Cindy had said both her parents sucked, and this guy seems nice so far.

Then again, she hasn't even spoken a word to him, so maybe she's not the best judge of character at the moment.

"Hi, Mr. Miller, I'm Sarah!"

He looks happy to meet her. "Call me Tony."

"Will do."

This time, Cindy's the one who snorts, and Sarah turns around and mouths, "What's so funny now?"

"You."

"What are you two whispering about?" Chloe interrupts.

"Nothing, just planning your murder," Cindy quips, and Tony laughs.

"Always the quick wit. I am starving; are you ready to eat?"

"Yes. Pizza is God," Cindy says.

"It's not like you've never eaten before, honey," her mother points out, making Cindy's eyes narrow.

"Okay, then."

"I like this one," she says, pointing to Sarah.

"Thanks," both Cindy and Sarah say at the same time and then awkwardly laugh.

"I'm surprised. You finally picked someone who wasn't a total loser," Chloe says.

"Chloe—" Tony says from the background.

"Chloe, shut up," Cindy says, and her mother gasps.

"Do not talk to your sister that way."

"Didn't seem to bother you when it was her degrading me," Cindy says coolly, crossing her arms and blowing a stray strand of brown hair out of her face.

"She has not been degrading you; stop being dramatic."

"You were doing it too! Why would you bring up an ex in front of someone else? That's a recipe for disaster!"

"You're one to talk about appropriate when you were just talking about planning our murder," Chloe says defensively.

"Any outsider can see why," Cindy says, her hand gesturing toward her surroundings to emphasize her point.

"Guys—" Tony tries to cut in but fails.

Sarah tries to back away, but Cindy inadvertently blocks her.

"I'm getting out of here. There are better things I can do with my time."

"You always say that we treat your sister better than you, but did you ever think about why? It's for this exact reason! Your big sister is a doctor; she's married; she has a family, and what do you have?"

"Not you; that's for damned sure," Sarah says, her heart breaking at Cindy's frustration.

"Don't get involved in this," Chloe says.

"Don't talk to her like that. I'm 33, not 83, and I wish you would respect that not everyone turns out to be that cookie-cutter mold that their parents expect them to be! And if they were good parents, that cookie-cutter wouldn't even be there in the first place!" She opens the front door that she's conveniently standing in front of and slams it behind her.

Sarah looks around at the shell-shocked expressions of Cindy's family and then walks out herself.

//

"Ben, I need your help!" Cindy's pounding on Ben's door.

He opens the door confusedly and looks at her. Her makeup is smudged and her hair is everywhere. Did she get caught in a tornado?

"What happened to you?"

"My family."

"Good Lord, I forgot about that. Um, what happened?"

"We fought; I ran off."

"Where's Sarah?"

"At home. She calmed me down, and I left to talk to you. Also, it is dark out there."

"Yeah. It's 11 pm. It tends to look like that."

"Shut up. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, come on."

After getting Cindy a drink from the kitchen, he decides to ask again. "So, what happened?"

//

_A few hours ago..._

"Cindy, we need to talk."

Sarah knocks on Cindy's bedroom door for what feels like the hundredth time.

"Go away!"

"Please let me in."

Sarah's dejected voice seems to do the trick, because she can hear Cindy unlock the door from the other side but she still doesn't open it.

Sarah hesitates for a moment before her fingers curl around the doorknob and then slowly turn it.

Cindy's laying on her stomach on the bed, her arms and legs sticking straight out as if she were a starfish.

Sarah rubs Cindy's back soothingly, and she can feel her tense muscles starting to relax under her touch, making Sarah smile.

"Please don't blame yourself for what happened. Your family... sucks."

Cindy snorts, but it's muffled. "Ain't that the truth?"

"Yeah. You were right. Your family is annoying. Except your dad, because I haven't decided how I feel about him yet."

"Dad's pretty okay. But when my family is at it, Dad becomes a pushover who can't calm us down," Cindy groans. She pauses and then says, "I'm just sad I never got to eat pizza."

Sarah chuckles, pulling out her phone. "Well, _Lucinda_ , I know a way to fix that."

"Shut up before I throw a pillow at you."

//

"That was after the fight, by the way," Cindy says as she finishes her story.

"Yeah, I got that."

"So after I had pizza and watched some movies with Sarah, I decided to come here."

"Good, because I am not doing so well either," Ben says, more to himself than to Cindy.

"Hmm?"

"Ugh. Remember like two, three weeks ago when Leslie and I were trying to get you to make up? We were so awkward, but after a while we powered through it because you guys were more important."

"Okay..."

"I'm trying to figure out how she's able to do that so easily. She's working, she just published her book, and she's being the exact same. It's like nothing ever happened."

"I don't think it's easy for her, Ben."

"Sure seems like it," he says, grabbing a bottle of water from beside him and taking a sip.

"You're not in her inner circle anymore. Who knows what she's feeling?"

Ben hums in response. "Yeah."

"Well, thank you for the water and letting me vent. I'm gonna go back to Sarah," Cindy says, getting up from her seat in the kitchen.

"Have fun!" Ben says sadly.

As she leaves, Ben can't help but feel a sharp pang of jealousy at how things have worked out for her.

//

Ben wakes up with his covers gathered up around his head and his body curled in a ball.

He straightens himself up, his eyes closing again as he reaches his arm over to his right.

When he feels nothing, his eyes snap open and closed again and he tanks his arm away like he had an electric shock.

Right. She's not there anymore. She'll never be.

Cindy had told him about the advice Leslie gave Sarah when the two of them were fighting, the advice he senses wasn't about them.

_"Break up or make up; it doesn't matter."_

But doesn't it?


	17. Spiked Pie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben won't talk about why he's mad. The girls spend some time together, Cindy and April being chaotic dumbasses together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm loving Cindy and April's relationship so humor me okay

Ben's reconsidering once again his decision to live with April and Andy. That's a usual occurrence, but today just pushed him over the edge, what with their planning a party without telling him.

However, he does have to give credit where credit's due; their decorations are top-notch, albeit terrifying.

Ben hides in his room and puts on his noise-canceling headphones to tune out the music and work, but that mission, sadly, does not pan out well for him.

After yanking them off and tossing them behind him in the direction of his bed, he rubs his temples in exhaustion.

There's a knock on his bedroom window, and as he warily walks over to it and holds the drapes aside to peer out, he screams.

"Orin?" He yells at the person outside. It's a safe assumption; the person is wearing all black, the long cloak engulfing them and a hood shielding their face. A scythe rests in their hands, and Ben hesitantly decides not to wonder whether or not that scythe is real. Orin's a pretty safe bet.

That bet, fortunately, turns out to be wrong, as the person pulls down the hood covering them and he instantly recognizes them as Cindy.

"Oh my god; did I scare you? No one was answering the door; can you let me in?"

Ben's hands work quickly and nervously at the lock on his window. He pushes the latch aside once he's done with it and lifts the window. He hesitantly offers his hand to help Cindy in, but she ignores it, stepping in independently.

//

"What is wrong with you? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Ben whines, making Cindy roll her eyes.

"Almost?" She quips, and his mouth forms a straight line as he glares at her.

"Not now."

"Why aren't you in costume?" Cindy asks.

"Because I'm not part of this party; because I didn't know one was happening; because if I did, I'd have said no."

"And you wonder why April and Andy don't tell you things."

"God, you're the worst."

"And proud of it. More importantly, I need alcohol. I'll be back."

"I'll get it for you."

"Wow, a gentleman."

The corner of Ben's mouth uplifts into a hint of a smile as he leaves the room.

//

Leslie sits alone in her office after Tom leaves.

She watches the video five more times, the tears still rolling at a constant speed down her face.

After she stops, her mind starts to wander, something she's been trying to avoid.

The moment Ben pops into her head, she shakes it and opens her email, disappointed to see there's nothing new to start on.

That's never stopped her before, so she pulls out her phone, dialing Ann.

After eight times with no answer, Leslie gives up and dials Sarah instead.

//

"Bro, what's wrong?"

"I told you nothing's wrong; just leave me alone."

"Take a break, Andy. I'll bother him for a little bit."

"Thanks, Cindy! You're the best!" He grins at her and gives her a thumbs-up.

"Okay, seriously, what's going on with you?"

"Nothing, for God's sake."

"Uh-huh."

Cindy's phone beeps. "I have to go let Sarah in," she says after grabbing it from beneath her cloak. "Does anyone here know how to open a door? Seriously," she huffs, pulling her hood over her face.

When Cindy comes back over to Ben with Sarah, he can't help but be impressed by her costume.

"Lily Munster?"

"You know it," Sarah smirks, lifting her beer to her lips and taking a long sip.

"We should've coordinated. I could've been Herman."

"Cindy, no," Sarah says.

"I was torn between the Grim Reaper and the Headless Horseman. Sarah wouldn't let me cut off my head, so I chose this one."

"I don't like how you're making me not wanting you to chop off your head sound unreasonable," Sarah deadpans.

"You love it."

"More importantly, is Ben okay?" Sarah says, using her free hand to gesture to Ben.

"See? Andy was right. You are upset."

"I'm fine," Ben says rather angrily.

"Liar," Cindy accuses. Ben stomps off toward his bedroom, Cindy following close behind him. Sarah hesitates, looking around the drunken people dancing around her and wincing at the loud music and then hurrying to catch up with them.

"Come on, dude, just talk about it."

"I can't because there's nothing wrong." Ben's hands stay awkwardly at his sides as he says this.

"Tell me or I'll call Leslie and tell her you're in love with Chris."

"Do you even have her number?" Ben asks incredulously.

"Sarah gave it to me."

"Why did you give her Leslie's number?" Ben asks Sarah, his tone one of exasperation.

"Speak of the devil," Sarah says, pulling her ringing phone out of her pocket.

Ben's eyes widen as he sees the name and he falls silent.

"Hi, Leslie," Sarah says awkwardly.

"Sarah! Ann won't answer me, and I need to vent."

"O-okay, go ahead," Sarah stutters, making Cindy's eyes narrow.

Cindy loses interest quickly and begins to poke Ben. "Tell me, tell me, tell me," she says.

"You know that meet and greet I'm doing?" Leslie asks. "Well, Tom graciously volunteered to help me organize it, but he made it about him and promoting his business, so now I'm screwed, but then he showed me this video— what is going on over there?"

"Sorry, it's just Cindy being stupid," Sarah says, causing Cindy to look at her with mock offense. "Also, the music is so loud."

As Leslie begins to talk again, Cindy gets over the betrayal and resorts to poking Ben again.

"Stop that," he mutters.

"Yeah, I can hear it. Anyway, the video was so cute, but I'm still mad at Tom and I feel really bad about that and I don't know what to do about— is that Ben?"

"Uh, what? No," Sarah says fakely.

"Don't lie to me. I know he's there."

"Um... what do you want me to say?"

Ben subconsciously leans in closer, but he can't hear Leslie any better.

"I don't know. I'm gonna go watch this video 10 more times. And then another 5. And maybe one more time after that. Thanks for letting me vent!"

Leslie hangs up abruptly after that, and Sarah peels the phone away from her ear with a look of confusion on her face.

"You're... welcome," she says to the air.

"What happened? Is Leslie okay?"

"Sarah, don't answer that. Ben, stop being obvious and tell me what's wrong."

"I think what's wrong is plainly obvious, but I'll tell you because I know what you said earlier was not an empty threat."

"No, it wasn't, but now I kinda wanna do it to see what Leslie says."

"Cindy, no."

//

**Cindy added Leslie, Sarah, Ann, and April to a group chat.**

**Sarah changed the chat name to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.**

**Leslie - What is this?**

**Ann - I like the chat name.**

**Sarah - Thank you 🥺**

**Cindy - I'm bored, so I made a group chat.**

**Ann - I don't see the connection between being bored and making a group chat, but I'm not opposed to this.**

**Leslie - Yay, friends chat! I love it!**

**April - This is lame. Cindy, how could you?**

**Cindy - I know... I made a sacrifice in the name of boredom. Can you understand that?**

**April - 🔪🔪🔪**

**Cindy - For those who don't know, that translates to yes.**

**Leslie - We should have a girls' night!**

**Sarah - Omg let's!**

**Cindy - I would, but I am heavily hungover from last night's party.**

**Sarah - You drank 1 beer.**

**Cindy - SHHHHH.**

**April - Can I bring knives?**

**Ann - APRIL NO**

**April - Ew why is Ann here?**

**Cindy - I'll go if April does. Also knives sound good, April. You should do that.**

**Sarah - CINDY-**

**Leslie - CINDY AND APRIL STOP RIGHT NOW**

**April - Which ones should I bring?**

**Cindy - ALL OF THEM.**

**Sarah - This was a bad idea.**

**Cindy - You're just jealous that I'm talking to another girl.**

**Sarah - wtf**

**Ann - We're all women.**

**Leslie - Should I bring wine?**

**April - YES**

**Ann - Who's house are we going to? Not Leslie's.**

**Leslie - Hey-**

**Ann - No exceptions. Let's do mine. I'll send the address.**

**Sarah - On my way now.**

**April - Why do we have to go to Ann's?**

**Cindy - Not sure why you don't like Ann, but the knives and alcohol more than make up for it.**

**April - I'm sold.**

**Ann - You two need mental help.**

**Cindy - 😉**

//

"Dude, open up!" April screeches into Ann's door as she knocks loudly.

"This is fun!" Cindy yells.

The door opens and Cindy's shocked to be greeted by Sarah. "Oh good god, you two are together."

"Not like that; we just arrived at the same time," Cindy says teasingly, kissing Sarah's cheek.

"Obviously," Sarah rolls her eyes jokingly and turns to April. "Not sure if we've met; I'm Sarah."

April nods and Cindy says, "Leslie here yet?"

"She and Ann are getting something from the bedroom."

"Hot."

"Why am I dating you again?"

"That's a question for the ages."

"I'm telling you, I heard voices— hey Cindy!" Ann says cheerfully.

"April! You didn't bring 😉; did you?" Leslie warily asks.

April pats her bag, sending a knowing glance over to Cindy before saying, "No. Changed my mind. Ben wouldn't let me leave with them."

Leslie's face falls for a fraction of a second before it quickly morphs into a too-bright smile that doesn't seem to reach her eyes.

"Good call. What should we watch?" Ann asks.

"Psycho?" Cindy suggests.

"No. Leslie?"

"History documentaries?" She says hopefully.

"No. Let's just watch Friday Night Lights or something."

"Fine. But if you guys fall asleep, I'm hijacking the TV and watching horror movies," Cindy says.

"This is a fun conversation," Ann muses as she turns on her TV.

"I'm gonna go bake a pie," Leslie says, heading for Ann's kitchen.

//

"April? Can you watch this pie for me? I need to go to the bathroom."

"Sure thing, Les."

Leslie should've been suspicious at April's eagerness to be helpful. As April grabs a bottle of margarita out of her purse and begins to pour it in, someone bursts into the kitchen.

April immediately hides the bottle behind her back, but Cindy catches her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cindy asks.

"Nothing," April replies. She likes to think she's a pretty good liar, but at the moment, she's no match for Cindy's perceptiveness.

"What's behind your back?" Cindy says, grabbing the bottle from behind her.

"Ugh, you caught me," April says.

"Dude, you were spiking the pie and you didn't include me? I'm so offended right now."

"Wait, really?"

"Duh. Now let's do this quietly before Leslie comes back from the bathroom."

//

"Guys, are you ready for pie?" Leslie asks.

"Yes; I'm starving," Ann replies.

"Ann gets the first piece because she's a perfect, petite, radiant hummingbird."

"Okay," Ann says confusedly.

Ann takes a bite as Leslie serves the pie to everyone else. "Okay, which one of you spiked the pie?" Ann glares between Cindy and April.

"I don't know what you're talking about," April says, she and Cindy both shrugging and feigning innocence.

"It was both of you, wasn't it?"

"What? How could you guys soil the pureness of pie?" Leslie asks, clearly very offended.

Sarah repeats Ann's previous action and looks between Cindy and April, but this time with a look of confusion.

Ann takes another bite of her pie. "Wait. I don't hate this."

Sarah takes a bite of the pie herself. "Oh my god; this is delicious."

"See? We made it better," Cindy says, grinning.

"Leslie, just try it," Ann says, grabbing Leslie's spoon and scooping some pie off her plate with it to offer to her.

"No. I don't eat contaminated pie."

"It's not— do it for me, the radiant bird that you love so much," Ann says to entice her. It comes off a little weird because she's confused herself about what that means.

"Hummingbird."

"Whatever; just try it."

"Fine. You're lucky I love you so much."

Leslie tentatively leans down to swallow the spoonful while Ann's still holding the spoon, which Ann decides not to say anything about.

"Damn, that's good," Leslie says after she swallows the cherry pie.

"Right?"

"I'm still mad at you two," Leslie says as she takes another bite from her plate.

"I still can't believe you two actually spiked the food," Sarah says.

"It turned out well, so you can't be mad," Cindy replies.

"We'll see about that," Leslie says, her mouth full.

They all laugh and continue eating.


	18. A Total Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April gets sick of Ben's sadness baths and rallies Cindy to prank him; Leslie struggles with moving on. Meanwhile, the group chat gets even more chaotic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3rd update in a week hell yeah

Ben's drowning his sorrows again by taking a long bath.

He can't tell anymore if he's been in the tub for 5 hours or 5 minutes, but the former is probably more likely, what with his feet starting to fall asleep.

He falls asleep for a moment or two listening to REM music, only waking when he hears the faint noise of someone knocking on the locked bathroom door.

He can't bring himself to say anything, and eventually the person gives up and stops knocking. After that happens, he sinks his body deeper into the soup-infused bathwater.

The person knocks on the door again, this time louder, causing him to pull out his earbuds and scream, "Occupied!"

"You've been in there forever; hurry up!" April yells, the aggravation clear in her voice.

Ben sighs and puts his earbuds back in, his mind drifting over to Leslie and what he used to have.

There was a brief period not too long ago that was filled with laughter and joy. A period filled with tickles and cuddling and late-night talks and longtime kisses. A period that felt like forever ago and just yesterday at the same time.

He squeezes his eyelids shut to stop the tears, and this time he succeeds.

See? He's improving.

He's too much into his own head that he doesn't hear the bathroom door open and then close a moment later.

When he finally gets the will to lift himself out of the tub, he groans when he realizes the clothes he knows he laid out for himself were gone.

"What the hell?" He whispers under his breath. "April, what did you do?"

He wraps his towel around himself and opens the bathroom door, sticking his head out of the small opening to peer out. His eyes scan his surroundings and quickly fall on a guilty-looking April and Cindy standing not too far away.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?"

"What? We didn't do anything," Cindy says, turning back to April to continue whatever conversation they were apparently having.

He doesn't know how he feels about their new friendship, because on the one hand, they'd be perfect best friends, but on the other, they're the most terrifying duo ever.

"Ugh," he grunts, "Where did you put my clothes?"

Cindy grabs them from on top of the couch and walks over to him. He pulls back for a moment and comes back with his hand out, ready to grab them. The action makes her roll her eyes at him in amusement. "Here. When you're done, we need to talk."

Ben makes a face but then silently agrees.

"That was fun," April says, high-fiving Cindy. "What's going on with him anyway?"

"Do I detect concern?" Cindy laughs, crossing her arms. "It could be a lot of things, honestly," she says, her voice serious.

"These stupid sadness baths keep making me late for stuff," April grumbles.

"I'll see what I can do," Cindy promises her.

Cindy waits for another minute, making a few comments about her being an old lady when he finally comes out of the restroom. When he does, his hair is damp and his fingers are still a little wrinkled from the water.

He walks behind her into his bedroom, and she crosses her arms again.

"What, are you gonna yell at me?"

"Tempting, but no. You're having a hard time with this, and trust me, I understand. I'm here, okay? Just don't feel like you're alone."

"Thanks for that. Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?"

"All I'm saying is that the sadness baths, that's what April's calling them, are making her a little suspicious. Just be careful, okay?" Cindy whispers.

Ben breaks eye contact for a moment, looking down at the ground and then back up at her. "Fine," he says.

"What time is it?" Cindy asks.

Ben turns his head to the side and squints at the clock on his nightstand. "6pm, why?"

"I have to go. Sarah's making dinner."

"Have fun!" Ben says as she leaves the room.

"Oh, I will," Cindy says teasingly.

"Please don't feel the need to share details," he calls, and the last thing he hears before the front door closes is her cackling loudly.

As his bedroom door seems to shut on its own, he sits at his desk wondering how Cindy and April opened the bathroom door if it was locked, but then decides that maybe its best that he doesn't know.

//

"Just because I can't go out with him, someone else can?" Leslie asks Ann.

The rest of the conversation goes by in a blur, Leslie seeing red each time Shauna makes physical contact with her boyfriend. _Ex_ -boyfriend.

Leslie decides to pretend that didn't happen.

As she's holding back tears, she sees Cindy join the conversation Ben and Shauna were having and silently thanks whatever gods may be out there, because while Ben is allowed to move on and its likely healthier if he does, she doesn't want to see it. At least, not right now.

She always pictured herself moving on first, not so she could feel like she had a string of admirers waiting for her, but so it would hurt less.

"Hey," someone says from behind her as she's starting to embrace her latest Ben-related spiral.

She yelps and turns to see Cindy standing before her. How did she yet over there so fast?

Cindy snorts and then her face changes back to one of concern, "You okay?" She asks.

"Yeah," Leslie lies.

"He misses you, you know. Just remember that."

Leslie forces her lips to form a sad smile instead of a grimace. "Thanks, Cindy."

"I'm serious. He's crazy about you. Don't worry about Shauna."

"I'll try," Leslie says.

"If you want, I can bother them for you."

"Won't that make Ben suspicious?"

"Nah, he gets worried when I'm _not_ messing with him."

Cindy walks toward Ben and Shauna after that, and Leslie bites her lip nervously, hoping that all goes well.

//

As Cindy approaches, Shauna's face falls.

"Hey, sorry, I had to go do something."

Ben, seeming relieved at her presence, silently nods.

"Did you hear about that party that Tom's throwing?" Shauna asks.

"Uh, sort of? He texted me to get my nerd self over there when I finally stop doing nerd things. I'm not really sure what that means."

"For what it's worth, I find nerds cute," Shauna says, avoiding Cindy's gaze.

Cindy stifles an eye roll at that. "Yeah, we should head over there after the world ends. I was talking to Herb earlier about his theories. Is it bad that I kinda wanna join that cult of his?"

"Yes, Cindy, that's bad," Ben says, likely in an effort to ignore Shauna's flirting.

"What can I say? The dragon intrigues me. Say what you want about Reasonablism, but its certainly not boring."

"Stop trying to justify it," Ben says, laughing himself.

"I'm not. Do you think he'll eventually get the date right?"

"Do you... want him to?" Ben asks her incredulously.

"He's had so many of them wrong, he's kinda due. Know what I mean?"

"No, no I don't," Shauna interrupts while still looking at Ben.

From the corner of her eye, Cindy spots Leslie looking upon the three of them, so she subtly sends her a wink, which Ben notices. He looks between them and then back at Cindy with a questioning gaze. She waves a hand at him dismissively to let him know that nothing's going on. He doesn't look entirely convinced, but he still looks back at Shauna and laughs at whatever she said.

Just then, Cindy's phone pings.

**Leslie - Are they flirting? They're flirting, aren't they?**

**Cindy - It's mostly Shauna flirting and Ben being awkward, but yes?**   
**C - I'm guessing that's not the answer you wanted.**

**L - I'm coming over there.**

Cindy tries to text a frantic reply for Leslie not to do that, but its too late, as Leslie's already walked over to the trio and made an awkward joke.

//

**Sarah - Have you guys been hearing the weird shit Herb's saying?**

**April - Hail Zorp.**

**Leslie - No, no hailing Zorp.**

**April changed the chat name to Hail Zorp. Zorp Is God.**

**Ann - April, why?**

**April - Can I remove Ann from the chat?**

**Leslie - I don't think you have the power to do that. Also, no.**

**Sarah - By the way, has anyone seen Cindy?**

**Ann - Last I saw, she was talking to Leslie.**

**Sarah - Leslie?**

**Leslie - Don't look at me. She went off to go talk to Ben and Shauna. Did you see the way they were flirting?**

**April - Cindy and Shauna?**

**Sarah - ...**

**Leslie - No, Ben and Shauna.**

**April - Why do you care?**

**Leslie - I don't.**   
**Leslie - Shut up.**

//

Ben's sitting in silence in Cindy's car as she drives him back to his car.

Her phone is beeping every two seconds, and she resists the urge to pick it up.

Every time it makes a noise, Ben sighs.

"Sorry," she says, "It's probably the group chat."

"What group chat?" Ben says after a long pause.

Cindy ignores the question, instead asking, "What happened?"

"Leslie lured me to this stupid gas station. I knew what she was doing from the moment she came to get me, but I just..."

"Felt like you should play along?" Cindy finishes for him.

"Something like that. Don't play devil's advocate; I know you were helping Leslie."

"What do you mean?"

"The wink? Coming to me right after talking to her? Do you think I'm an idiot?" Ben asks, exhaustion taking over the tone of his voice.

"A little bit, but that's not why."

If Ben had more energy, he'd likely be gesturing around confusedly, but he instead rests his head in his hand, tilting it toward the window.

"Honestly, Ben," Cindy sighs, "I just don't want you to make a big mistake."

"And what kind of mistake do you think I'm so susceptible to making?"

"I don't know, man. I was getting these pictures of you getting drunk and waking up in bed with Shauna. Or saying something bad to Leslie. Or... anything. I just felt like I needed to do something."

Cindy pulls back into the park, and Ben sees the familiar faces of Herb and his crew. He sees Leslie talking to Ron and averts his eyes, not wanting to have to take any more pain.

He gets out of her car and then into his own.

As Cindy watches him go and leans her head against the steering wheel, Sarah shows up.

"Hey! I haven't seen you at all toda— what happened?"

"Long day. I wanna go home," Cindy says, lifting her head up from the steering wheel to look at Sarah.

"Me too. Want me to drive?"

"It's okay." She gestures for Sarah to step inside, which she does. They give each other a quick peck on the lips and then drive off.

//

"It wasn't until just now that I realized... the romantic part of our relationship is over."

It's a total lie, but Leslie can't help but take comfort in the fact that the false statement seems to affect Ben just as much as it affects her.

After apologizing to him and walking off, she resists every urge to turn back and look at him even though she can feel his eyes on her.

Driving off, she fights back the tears and forces her mind to think about anything but him.

//

**Cindy - You guys blew up my phone.**

**Leslie - Sorry, Sarah was looking for you.**

**Cindy - Aw, babe, you were worried about me? 😉**

**Sarah - I plead the fifth.**

**April - Take your gross flirting out of this group chat.**

**Cindy - Agreed.**

**Ann - Cindy, you started it.**

**Cindy - STOP MAKING ME WRONG**   
**Cindy - I'm regretting making this group chat.**

**Cindy changed the chat name to Death Becomes Me.**

**Ann - What the hell-**

**April - Oh my god, I love it.**

**Cindy - 😁**

**Sarah - You guys suck.**

**Leslie - Including me?**

**Sarah - Nah, you're good.**

**Leslie - 👏**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing text scenes. I should make a chatfic.


	19. How Long Will It Feel This Way?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When things get ugly on Model UN night, Ben and Leslie can't help but feel the repercussions. April, Andy, Cindy, and Sarah try to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a little inspiration from the fact that I don't like the way Ben treated Leslie in this episode so lol.

For Leslie, being able to do this Model UN tournament with Ben and keeping up civil conversation was a sign that they were both moving on with their lives. It hurt like hell, but after all the events that transpired at the end of the world not too long ago, she knew this is what was supposed to happen.

However, she has been respecting Ben's feelings about the ordeal and giving him his space. Mostly. Kind of. Sort of?

Working together on this started off well, with teasing and banter and funky handshakes. Leslie gets a warm feeling in her heart as she thinks that maybe they can go back to the way they used to be.

That thought comes back to haunt her as the campaign gets in the way once again. And she should've known; the campaign got in the way of the two of them before, and it did again. Or maybe it never stopped. Either way, she has no doubt its going to get away in the future as well.

She asked him to tread water, she willed him to understand, she pleaded with Ben with her eyes, begging him not to make this harder. The way she's been making it harder on him. That thought passes through her mind and she quickly discards it. She just can't think about that right now.

They fight. They yell. They scream at each other, and no one else knows why. All these outsiders probably think that they're just over-passionate, overworked, and overreacting. But Leslie knows the truth. She knows where the pain really is coming from, and she can't talk to anyone about it.

What people don't know about her is that she's more than willing to apologize when she knows she's wrong. The problem is, she never thinks she is, which is why she returns his anger with equal vigor.

"The only thing I will be waving is your decapitated head on a stick in front of your weeping mother," Leslie spits at Ben.

"Good Lord," is all he has to reply with.

So, yeah, maybe not _exactly_ equal.

//

"Did you guys hear what happened?" Sarah asked April. It's a rhetorical question, a way to bring it up so they can strategize.

"Well, we were about a foot away, so yeah," April says emotionlessly.

"We need to fix this," Sarah says.

"I hate to state the obvious, but that might not end well. Remember what happened when Leslie and Ben tried to fix _our problems_?

"But that's exactly why we need to help them," Sarah explains, "Because they'd do it for us in a heartbeat."

Cindy sighs in agreement. "Okay. April, you go find Leslie. Sarah and I will go after Ben."

April nods and runs off.

Cindy and Sarah speed walk through the ruins of the competition. While there isn't exactly a physical mess, there is a mental one. An emotional, time-consuming, exhausting one.

"Where do you think Ben ran off to?" Sarah says after a moment of silence. Cindy can almost hear the thoughts running through her mind, or at least the emotions behind them. It's a mix of confusion, curiosity, excitement from the rush of adrenaline accompanying their every move, and worry. Lots and lots of worry. For Ben, for Leslie, and for the poor teenagers who just wanted their Model UN meet to go well. It's something Cindy's always loved about Sarah, how much she cares. It's similar to the way Ben cares about Leslie, she realizes. They're both the ones who watch as their significant others (or former significant others) do crazy, risky things that turn out wonderful. Except maybe this time. This time is one of the hardest.

"Not sure. Knowing him, probably not that far."

Cindy turns out to be right on that endeavor. They quickly find him hiding in a nearby supply closet, not quite in tears, but very close to them.

//

Leslie runs into the bathroom and into a stall, locking herself in it and sitting down on the unlifted toilet lid. Her legs come up and bend so she can hug her knees to her chest. That way, if someone comes in, they can't see her hiding, and she doesn't have to face the embarrassment or talk to anyone.

She lowers her head, tilting her face into her knees. Her hair is probably messing up and she knows she's smudging her makeup, but she doesn't care.

The tears fall quickly after that.

She squeezes her eyes shut to stop them, but that action somehow makes more of them appear and then fall. She embraces it, letting the tears stain her pants and her nose clog up.

She's a loud crier. She sniffs and she sobs and tries to rub her eyes, and the funny (not funny) part is that she wants Ben there with her, his arms tightly wound around her and consoling her. The one who's been hurting her is the one she wants reassurance from. It's messed up.

Remember what she said earlier about being a loud crier? That also comes back to haunt her, as she heard the door to the bathroom open, and she can't stop her sobs fast enough.

"Leslie?" April's voice calls.

Leslie tentatively curls her fingers around the stall lock, hopping off the toilet and slowly opening the door.

April's there. Her facial expression isn't one of judgement or insensitivity. Her face is one of someone who cares, but instead of utilizing the help that's being silently offered to her to let out the pain, Leslie pushes past April and runs out of the bathroom, heading for the lockers.

//

After yelling at Leslie, Ben storms off at the same time she does. It's a good thing; neither of them want to see the other walk away, but at the same time, they do. This way eliminates the options. The only bad part of it is that they don't know how the other one is feeling, so the anger only worsens.

Ben can tell a lot of things from Leslie's stride. When her steps are sharp and quick, she's stressed and angry. When they're long and slow, she's relaxed. And there's a rare one, where her hips are swaying and her smile is big, when she's being flirty. He saw it a couple of times before they dated, when there was that tension in the air, and he definitely saw it more often after they kissed and started dating. After breaking up, the stance was gone entirely. It wasn't even rare anymore, just nonexistent. He doesn't know whether or not that's a good thing.

He's sitting down on the cold floor of the supply closet with his head in his hands. The anger morphs into regret for a minute before manifesting itself back into anger. It's a few more minutes of silence and entrapment with his thoughts before the door opens. Footsteps sound, and he doesn't bother looking up, because he knows who's there.

"Cindy?" He whispers.

"And Sarah."

"Are you here to scold me?" Ben asks self-deprecatingly.

"No. Something tells me that that's not going to help."

"And since when did you want to help?" Ben says, lashing out.

"I always did. But this isn't about me. What's going on?" Cindy asks. She knows what's going on, obviously, but asking the question is a good way to get him to gather his thoughts.

Sarah's standing there silently, and Ben feels that maybe he shouldn't open up in front of a friend of Leslie's, but ultimately decides that nothing matters anymore and does.

"Leslie's forcing me to spend time with her again." It's a short statement, a quick explanation, but they all know the meaning it holds.

"How?" Cindy asks.

"The Model UN thing," he waves his hand and he says it like its the most obvious thing in the world, but it's not.

"How do you know?" Sarah asks.

"How don't I know?" Ben responds, but it doesn't seem to convince them. "Okay, fine, maybe I don't know."

"I'm sorry, but am I the only one noticing the contradiction here?" Cindy asks.

Sarah, who doesn't seem to know what she's talking about, looks to her girlfriend and shakes her head, gesturing with her hand making a quick motion across her neck to tell her to knock it off. But Cindy, being Cindy, continues.

"You don't want to spend time with her, but you're mad that she abandoned you to go do campaign work, which by the way, wasn't her fault."

"So you're defending her?" Ben snorts, also self-deprecatingly.

"No, I'm pointing out the facts, because that's what you need right now, even if you don't know it," Cindy replies.

"So what other facts do I need you to point out?" Ben asks, apparently not appreciating Cindy's bluntness.

"Well, what's bothering you is that she's trying too hard to be your friend, right?" Cindy asks, and Ben nods. "Because you need your space, which is totally valid," Cindy confirms for him.

"I sense a 'but' coming," he says.

"Damn straight," Cindy replies, and then takes a deep breath. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe she's trying to be your friend because she doesn't have a choice?"

Ben falters, looking at Cindy in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not denying you both made mistakes," Cindy says.

"So then what are you saying?" Ben interrupts.

"Let me finish," Cindy says. "Something I'm noticing is that you're talking a lot about how Leslie isn't listening to your feelings, which is true, but how about listening to hers?" She sits down on the ground with Ben.

"Cindy, I've been doing nothing but listening to her feelings," Ben says confusedly.

"Have you?" Sarah says, beginning to catch on to Cindy's point, sitting down with the two of them like they're in front of a campfire.

"Yes?" Ben replies to her in a questioning tone, like he's not so sure anymore.

"You can't avoid each other forever; you're her boss," Sarah continues, "You'll have to talk to each other at some point."

"I know that, but—

Cindy holds up a finger, shushing him. "Like she said, you'll have to talk to each other. Restoring the friendship you used to have may actually help you both in the long run."

"But it's not that easy," Ben argues, causing Cindy and Sarah to both nod.

"I know," Sarah whispers, "You're both going about this all wrong."

"So what do I do?" Ben asks.

"Just talk to her," Cindy suggests.

"Maybe you'll come to some kind of solution," Sarah adds.

"And if we don't?"

"Then Cindy'll probably hold you two hostage until you do," Sarah jokes.

"I know you're joking, but that's definitely something I would do."

"It definitely is," Ben agrees.

Sarah rolls her eyes. "Let's go," she says, offering her hand to help up Cindy, who shyly takes it and stands up. Ben follows, feeling another pang of jealousy at their relationship.

//

"Hey, is Leslie here yet?" Sarah asks Andy as she, Ben, and Cindy enter the classroom. Ben immediately takes a seat while Cindy stands silently behind Sarah.

"No, April's looking for her, I think," Andy says.

Just then, the classroom door opens, and in comes Leslie and April.

"Hey," Sarah says to Leslie. She nods sadly over at her and then sends a nervous glance over to Ben, who looks away from her, but not before matching her expression.

April and Andy quickly rush off to go throw things out the window, and Cindy follows the two of them excitedly.

"Good luck," Sarah mouths to Ben. She quickly runs off in the direction that the rest of them went, likely to keep an eye on her insane girlfriend.

...

After conversing with Ben, Leslie can't help but feel as if a large weight has been lifted off her shoulders. The thought she had before everything exploded in their faces comes back to her. Maybe they really _can_ be friends.

After all, a daily 5-minute conversation doesn't seem all that far-fetched. Leslie has half a mind to run home and write up a list of possible conversation topics. See? It won't kill them.

Will it?

//

Cindy and Sarah watch the last few moments of Leslie and Ben teasing each other like old times.

"We did good," Cindy says, draping an arm around Sarah.

"Yes, look at our lovely children," Sarah says jokingly.

Cindy leans against the wall and pushes a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, giving Sarah a smile. Then she realizes.

"Wait, if they're our kids, then wouldn't they be siblings?" Cindy asks as Leslie and Ben leave the room, Leslie a few moments after him.

"Oh, god, you're right," Sarah says, her hand coming up to smack herself lightly on the forehead in realization. "Ok, Ben's your kid, and Leslie's my kid. Is that better?"

"So they're step-siblings. Kind of."

"Shut up; stop making me wrong."

"But it's so fun. Oh, I got another point: they're older than us."

"Stop!" Sarah says, laughing loudly. "This isn't funny."

"On the contrary; it's very funny."

"I hate you so much."

"Liar. Either way, we should be proud of them."

"That's what I was trying to say!" A flustered Sarah whines.

"No, you just made it weird," Cindy replies.

"Okay, _Lucinda_."

"That... was a low blow," Cindy says, arm unwinding itself from around Sarah's shoulders and going to her heart in mock offense. "Seriously, though. Ismy name really so bad?"

"No, but I like bringing it up," Sarah admits, leaning on Cindy's shoulder.

"Wanna go home? I have some knives I need to clean."

"Good God; we need to put you in a mental hospital."

"Yeah, it's long overdue," Cindy muses as they walk out of the classroom hand-in-hand.

//

Ben unlocks the door to his home and takes long and slow strides in a means of exhaustion. He may be exaggerating his walk a little bit, but no one's there to see him, so it doesn't really matter.

When he looks around, he spots candy wrappers all over the floor and every kitchen cabinet open. Normally, he'd be pissed at April and Andy, but right now, he can't bring himself to care about their messiness.

The Peruvian Senate may just have to decline the treaty proposition. It's just too damn difficult.

The worst part is, Cindy and Sarah's words keep flooding back into his mind, and he can't help but feel like an asshole for the way he treated Leslie.

_"You don't want to spend time with her, but you're mad that she abandoned you to go do campaign work, which by the way, wasn't her fault."_

Her campaign managers control things, probably; her flakiness wasn't her fault. He's such a hypocrite. He runs his hands down his face with a sigh, closing his eyes again to process more of what happened just a few hours before.

_"Did you ever stop to think that maybe she's trying to be your friend because she doesn't have a choice?"_

Those are the words that hit the hardest, the ones that ring in his ears. It makes so much sense now why she's trying to spend time with him. It's likely both work-related and self-indulgent, he realizes, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that he's been complaining all this time about her not listening to his feelings, not knowing that he was doing the exact same thing.

They're both in the wrong.

Taking off his shoes, he walks to his bedroom and locks it, not wanting to handle the possibility of having to talk to anyone.

He realizes two things: One, it's not that he doesn't want to spend time with Leslie, it's that he does more that anything, but the pain and the awkwardness are just too much to bear. Secondly, it's becoming increasingly more obvious that there is not a world where he can handle talking to Leslie for 5 minutes without wanting the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

_"You can't avoid each other forever; you're her boss. You'll have to talk to each other at some point."_

Sarah's right. But maybe there's a way where he won't have to talk to her. If he's not her boss anymore. Well, not _technically_ her boss anymore.

If he hands the Parks budget over to Chris, then he won't have to handle keeping up appearances with a friendship. No one will question why they suddenly aren't talking to each other anymore. It's perfect.

But it's not, because on some level, he likes torturing himself. Taking off the Parks responsibility is still a last resort, because while it is true that he can't handle a friendship with her, he doesn't know if he's ready for a world where he never even sees her face, and if he does, it's in the hallways where it's just passing by, where they aren't important to each other anymore and there's so reason to be.

Besides, perfect would be if he were able to date her without disastrous consequences for the both of them.

His mind wanders to what Leslie would do if they did run into each other. Would she wave to him? Start up a conversation? Or would she ignore him, or not even recognize him?

The latter seems unlikely, but he can't help but consider it a possibility. Her life is so hectic and full, and while it's always been that way, it's even more so now. Soon, he won't matter to her. And he's pretty sure he won't ever be able to think of her in the same respect. He'll be the one left all alone, which he isn't too far off from now.

What breaks his heart even more is the thought that maybe one day he'll run into her again, and she'll have fallen in love with someone else. He'll catch a glimpse of her in her office kissing someone, and the ring on her finger will sparkle in the light.

He groans, realizing he's thinking a little bit too far ahead. Here, he has her engaged to someone she hasn't even met yet and they're just barely broken up.

Sleep doesn't come easily that night. It hasn't in a while. He tosses and turns, hoping that at some point, he'll have found the perfect position, but he doesn't.

How long will it feel this way?


	20. Perfect Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pain in Leslie's heart is at an all-time high when Ann and Ben blow up at her, forcing her to think about her steamroller tendencies. Meanwhile, Cindy and Sarah go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what to write here so Twitter plug time
> 
> follow me @pawneeisspecial

"I'm. Starving," Cindy groans.

Sarah laughs, setting her napkin on her lap. "No, you're not."

"I am! You don't know what this is like," she whines.

"Your burger will be here in a few minutes; calm down," Sarah says, trying not to laugh. Her hand reaches for Cindy's from across the booth, and she eagerly takes it before pulling away abruptly, a scowl quickly forming on her face.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to trick me!"

"How?" Sarah asks, her hands gesturing wildly around her in confusion.

"I don't know, but you are."

"I think we need to look into that straightjacket thing I mentioned the other day."

"You know, you might be onto something there," Cindy says seriously. She looks up at the approaching waitress and her eyes light up. As their burgers and fries are set on the table and the waitress disappears, Cindy turns back to Sarah and sighs happily, impatiently grabbing her burger from her plate.

"You know, I don't think you've ever looked at me like that," Sarah jokes.

"Maybe not when you were looking," Cindy replies between bites.

"Smooth."

"I'm bored."

"Well, you look very interested in eating that hamburger," Sarah points out.

"I haven't eaten all day. Stop being mean, or I'll steal your fries," Cindy threatens her with a glare.

Sarah and Cindy's phones ping at once, confusing them for a moment before realization sets in.

"Why did you make that group chat?" Sarah asks.

"I honestly have no idea."

They choose to ignore the alert for a few minutes. As usual, their conversation flows easily, Cindy saying chaotic things that Sarah had to address in the midst of laughter.

Eventually, however, their phones ping over and over, and their curiosity got the best of them.

Opening her phone, Sarah frowns at the text messages.

**Leslie - Help**  
**Leslie - Help me**  
**Leslie - Ann**  
**Leslie - Are you dead?**  
**Leslie - ANN**  
**Leslie - I'm calling 911.**

**Ann - What is it?**

**Leslie - Oh, thank God.**  
**Leslie - Things are happening.**

**Ann - Why don't we discuss it in private chat?**

**Leslie - Is this not-**  
**Leslie - CRAP ON A CRACKER**

**Cindy - Does anyone mind explaining what that was all about?**

**Ann - Long story.**

**Sarah - 👍**

**Cindy changed the chat name to Where Brain Cells Come to Die.**

"What _was_ that all about?" Sarah asks.

Cindy sighs. "Off the top of my head, probably Ben. Leslie has fallen hard for the nerd."

Sarah rolls her eyes. "True."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with this burger," Cindy says, gesturing to her half eaten burger and fries.

"Should I be jealous about that?" Sarah asks half-seriously.

That question goes unanswered as Cindy takes a big bite, eating a few fries between them and stealing some off of Sarah's plate to mess with her.

Fortunately, Sarah doesn't seem to mind all that much.

//

Chris follows Ben as he storms away from Leslie in anger. His confusion seems to double as each minute passes with no explanation about what just happened.

"Ben?" He calls out as they get back to his office.

"What?" Ben suddenly whips around to look at Chris with a glare.

"Have you not been getting enough sleep? You know, I have an excellent herbal remedy for that," he suggests, pointing at him to emphasize his point.

"Chris, I'm fine," Ben says, but it doesn't convince him. He knows him all too well and can see through the resolve he's been putting up.

"What happened out there?" Chris asks, finally bringing up the subject.

"Out where?"

"You know where. With Leslie. That was LITERALLY the most stressful thing I have ever witnessed."

"Well, maybe the 'Dream Team' isn't all that dreamy," he says sarcastically, turning around to walk away and end the conversation, but Chris isn't having that just yet.

"We should go for a run!" Chris suggests, clapping a hand against Ben's back, not noticing when Ben yelps and stumbles awkwardly.

"Chris, no. Not today."

Chris' face falls for a fraction of a second before his mood picks back up, and he flashes Ben one of his trademark smiles.

"It's not a problem," he says happily.

Ben opens his mouth like he's about to ask Chris a question, but he closes it, silently admitting defeat.

"Ben, are you okay?" He asks, his facial expression immediately switching to one of concern.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," Ben says, walking away from Chris back to his desk.

"If you're sure."

Ben hums a reply that Chris can't quite decipher. Checking the time, Chris is hit with a stroke of luck, it being a few minutes until his mid-day run.

It's a good thing; he was starting to feel a little restless.

//

Leslie paces up and down the hallway of her home. The events of the day can't escape her mind.

Ann's and Ben's outbursts ring in her ears, and each time, Leslie can't help but feel as if a knife is being twisted around in her chest over and over again.

Ben's face as he blew up at her couldn't leave her mind either. She wants him to look at her with love, not anger. However, him looking at her the way he used to would still hurt more than anything, just in a different way.

She wants things the way they used to be. Simpler.

And it's a crazy thing because she's never been satisfied with simple. Once she finished a challenging task, she would get started on another.

In college when she had essays due, she'd break in a new 3-ring binder to write down every detail and plan out every single aspect of her task. She's never been one to gloss over anything, but she finds herself wanting to skip this part of her life, even though she's in a very exciting era.

Ann keeps reminding her that she and Ben broke up for the sake of her campaign and her dreams, but this isn't her dream.

Her dream isn't to have campaign managers controlling her every move and never letting her do things the way she wants to, and she definitely never dreamt a situation like this, where she had to choose between two different good things.

She uses the word 'choose' lightly, because she never actually had a choice.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly finds Ben's contact. She resists every urge to scroll up through their text messages, because it's a road she's been down before.

_Hey, Ben. I know you said we need to stay away from each other, but we need to talk. We can't keep acting like this. I need you in my life._

Leslie erases the text, remembering the goal is to *not* be a steamroller.

She sighs, giving the text another try.

_Can we talk?_

It feels too small and too loaded with meaning at the same time, so she erases that text too.

Maybe texting him isn't the right idea. It feels too impersonal. A coward's way out.

Leslie Knope may be a lot of things, but a coward has never been one of them.

She presses the call button, hoping he doesn't answer so she can leave a message.

It's contradictory to her earlier thought about being too impersonal, but hearing his voice may be more personal than the moment calls for.

They used to be so personal. In the good way. Who knew all those months ago that the laughter would soon turn into tears, and the pillow talk would turn into hugging her pillow in loneliness, cuddling it instead of cuddling him?

That's another one of those loaded questions that no one wants the answer to.

She hears the phone ring once, twice, then three and four times. By the fifth ring, it goes to voice-mail, and Leslie hopes he's just in the shower away from his phone instead of staring at her name on the screen and wincing before pushing the phone away from him in disgust.

Although, she really shouldn't be imagining him in the shower either.

"Hey, Ben," she says, her voice shaky. "I think we need to talk. Can you meet me at our park at 10?"

She hangs up after that.

She feels pretty good about her message. It wasn't too long or too short, too personal or too impersonal.

Now her only worry is if he'll actually meet her there and hear her out, because he has every reason not to.

Her finger hovers over the call button, and her logic takes over, causing her to quickly shut the phone and push it across the kitchen counter to get it as far away from her as possible.

She can't call him again. This steamrolling has gone on long enough.

Now she just has to control it long enough to have a grown-up heart-to-heart with him.

//

"Okay, is this Health Department business or Leslie business?"

"You need to go talk to her."

"Why? So she can force me to spend time with her again? No way. I'm done talking."

Ann eventually gets Ben to agree to go talk to Leslie. Who didn't see that one coming?

Ben turns on his phone, nervously clenching every muscle in his body in the hopes that he doesn't have another million text messages from Leslie.

Instead, he finds a voicemail.

_"Hey, Ben. I think we need to talk. Can you meet me at our park at 10?"_

He almost doesn't recognize her voice. It's not positive or upbeat anymore, and her words seem filtered. She's censoring herself in front of him, and his anger fades for a second to think about how heartbreaking that is.

Her voice is so different, it makes him think it's a trick. Before Ann visited, he was dead set on not speaking to her again because of her intensity. Now she sounds like she's trying, but maybe its another trap to steamroll him again.

He hates himself for thinking that, realizing that while Leslie has changed, she's not cunning or vindictive. She's warm and caring, but she gets too much into her own head that the caring becomes extreme and you almost can't see it.

He doesn't know what he's expecting as he makes his way over to the park. Maybe Leslie will convince him not to leave. Maybe she'll apologize. Maybe she'll throw caution to the wind and want to fix things.

Okay, well that last one's not possible; it's just a weird fantasy.

He's still thinking about earlier today when he almost asked Chris to take over Parks and Rec, but chickened out as soon as he found the right words.

Approaching the park, he takes notice of her seated on the bench, looking elegant and dejected at the same time. He never knows how she does it.

She stands upon spotting him, saying, "Hey."

"Hi," is all he can say in return.

//

When he finally kisses her, Leslie feels like she can actually breathe again. It's funny. The feeling she gets is one she never thought she'd have again, but once she did, she doesn't know how that ever even crossed her mind.

Maybe it's a boost of confidence or love clouding her judgement, but the emotion feels poignant. It's something they both know they want to remember. They're going to do this for real, the thing they both secretly wanted to do, but were too scared to ask for because it didn't seem possible.

They finally break apart after what seems like hours.

"Where should we go?" Leslie asks, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Where's your car?"

Leslie looks down at the ground shyly. "I walked."

"That's not safe," he says, his facial expression one of concern, his protective side taking over as he traces her jaw gently with his index finger.

She shivers, and it's not from the cold.  
Leslie shrugs, and Ben pulls away from her, taking her hand.

They silently walk over a couple blocks to his car, quickly getting inside and driving off.

"Are you sure you want this?" Leslie asks him nervously, a wave of sefl-consciousness washing over her as she does.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Ben says, smiling as he takes a right turn. When they reach a red light, he removes his hand from the steering wheel and sets it on top of hers, and Leslie almost releases a groan of displeasure when the light turns green and they have to separate.

Leslie chuckles, and just like that, everything was the same again. There's definitely a lot of things they need to talk about, but for now, everything is back to normal.

It's perfect again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo I'm finally not ending on bad angst. however, this chapter is filled with bad angst. lmao.


	21. The Same Damn Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah and Cindy are witnesses in Leslie's trial. Cindy keeps getting asked the same questions over and over, and she is not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go!

**Leslie - Cindy, I need to talk to you.**

**Cindy - Okay... is everything alright?**

**Leslie - Yeah... kind of. Can I come over?**

**Cindy - Sure.**

20 minutes later, Cindy hears loud knocking at her door.

"Ben and I got back together!"

"Hello to you too."

"Oh, hi! Sorry," Leslie says, flustered.

"No, its great you're back together," Cindy says, taking in Leslie's facial expression, "Although it doesn't look like that's what you wanted to talk to me about."

"No. Yes. Sort of?"

"Come in, and I'll get you some coffee."

"With whipped cream, please," Leslie almost begs.

"You got it," Cindy says before disappearing to the kitchen. Leslie walks in and stands around awkwardly until Cindy comes back.

Cindy hands her her coffee and sits down on the couch, gesturing for Leslie to sit next to her.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asks after a beat of silence.

"Ann and Ben told me I'm a steamroller, which is good that they did, because it's something I need to work on, but now that Ben and I are back together I'm scared of doing something that'll make him run away or dump me in the shower or—

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take a breath."

Following Cindy's instructions, Leslie takes a deep breath before continuing her rant at a slower pace.

"What if I do something that makes him decide he can't put up with me anymore?" Leslie asks, a defeated look on her face.

"First of all, stop thinking that. I don't know what you did, but you made that man fall in love with you. I don't think there's anything you could do that _would_ make him dump you."

"Okay," Leslie breathes, her facial features beginning to calm.

"Second, what's this steamroller stuff you're talking about?"

"They call me a steamroller because I get too focused on what I want that I don't listen to other people's feelings," Leslie says, shrugging. "I'm guessing you agree?"

"Eh, kind of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... nothing. It's stupid," Cindy says, waving her hand at Leslie dismissively.

"No, what is it? I'd love to know."

Cindy sighs. "I don't know you extremely well, but from what I've seen, maybe its that when your life gets out of control, you try to find something you can control, but you never choose the right thing. Like Ben. Or Ann. People instead of objects or tasks. And that's what makes things get out of hand so quickly."

Leslie tilts her head at Cindy confusedly, "So I'm not a steamroller?" She asks, not quite believing her words.

"No, I think you are, but there's just a little more to it than that."

"Hmm. Well, that's definitely something to think about."

"Yeah. It's just a theory. Now back to the subject. You should probably talk to Ben about this. Communication is key and all that."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Leslie says, nodding. She clasps her hands together and keeps them on her lap.

"Also, can we back up for a second? You were dumped in the shower?"

//

"Hi, everyone," Leslie says a little nervously as she walks into the Parks Department with Ben.

Jerry looks up at the two curiously, and Donna continues staring at her nails, probably not even noticing their presence.

"Can everyone please come in here?" Ben calls, and April and Andy come out from under April's desk. Ben doesn't even want to know what they were doing under there.

Ron looks up at them from his office, seeming to understand what exactly is about to happen, so he gets up, opening the door and taking a few steps away from his office.

At this point, Donna's already figured out that something's going on, because she looks up at them expectantly.

Tom's next to Ron and staring curiously.

Once, surveying that everyone is there and listening to them, Leslie takes a deep breath and starts to speak.

"We have something to tell you."

Tom looks between the two of them and gasps. "Oh my god; are you two sleeping together?"

Leslie rolls her eyes.

"Y-yes?" Ben stammers out like a question, making Leslie facepalm. Andy's eyes widen and he turns to April with a gasp.

"Wait, seriously?" Tom asks, bewildered. "I thought Ben was gonna yell at me. I'm actually right? I need to lie down."

"Park it," Leslie says as Tom tries to leave. She takes another deep breath, and Ben gives her an encouraging nudge that the rest of the Parks Department seems to notice.

"Ben and I started dating back in the spring. Since its against the rules, it was a secret. We broke up because of the campaign, since that would make things 100 times harder than they already were."

"But," Ben continues, "Things happened. Actually, a lot of things happened, and we decided to try again and go public this time. However, there are some possible consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" April asks.

"We could both get fired. Another thing to think about is since Ben is higher-ranking, he'll be disciplined more harshly."

"But, no matter what, everything will be okay," Ben says to her.

"Ew, Ben. That was lame," April says.

"What are you going to tell Chris?" Ron asks from the back.

"Not sure yet," Leslie says. "We need to figure that out."

"I am just so happy for you kids—

"Shut up, Jerry!" April yells.

"April," Leslie scolds. "Thank you, Jerry."

Jerry smiles. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"Actually, there is. We're not sure what's going to happen, but Chris might need to ask everyone some questions. If that happens, make sure to tell them everything you know," Ben says seriously.

"Which isn't really that much," Leslie mutters.

"True. Also, stay on message. That means no talking about murdering people," Ben says, looking at April.

"No promises."

"God, you really are just like Cindy. Thank you for listening, everyone."

"Damn, who knew he had it in him?" Tom asks as Leslie and Ben leave.

"I saw them once. And heard them," Andy says.

"Andy," April says, whacking him gently on the shoulder.

"What? I'm bored now. I'm gonna go play with Jello."

"I think Kyle's at the shoeshine stand waiting for you," Donna says.

"Nah, that can wait."

//

"Were you aware of an illicit relationship between Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt?" Chris asks, sitting on the table in front of her.

"For the millionth time, yes," Cindy says, groaning. Leslie looks annoyed too but still sits in her seat silently.

"Please try to cooperate, Miss Miller," a judge in the back reprimands her.

"I have been cooperating! You keep asking me the same damn questions."

"Just tell me everything you know. Start from the beginning. How did you two meet?"

"You know how we met— ugh, fine. Back in April, you set us up on that date..."

_"Cindy Miller!" Chris says, waving finger guns at her._

_"Hey, Chris. What's up?"_

_"How would you like to go on a date?"_

_"Gee, Chris, this is so sudden," Cindy jokes._

_"Not with me, with Ben!"_

_"Does he know about this?" Cindy asks him, an unsure look taking over her facial features._

_"Not yet, but I know he'll be thrilled!" Chris says loudly. "He's been so lonely lately."_

_"You know, Chris, just because someone is single doesn't mean they're lonely."_

_"Yes, but bringing two soulmates together never hurts."_

_"Soulmates? I don't think we're there yet."_

_"To be honest, it isn't just for his benefit," Chris says a little guiltily._

_"What does that mean?" Cindy asks, taking a sip of her coffee and sitting down at her desk. She puts the coffee to the side and clasps her hands together._

"You don't have to go that much into detail, Miss Miller," the judge says.

"Do you want to hear this story or not?" Cindy snaps.

"Go on," Chris says.

"Thank you. Where was I? Oh yeah, I asked what he meant by that and then...

_"Ben asked me the other day if he could date someone in City Hall. You know how the rules are, so I told him no. It's a big bugaboo of mine," he says with a smile on his face. Cindy doesn't remember a time where he wasn't smiling, which is kind of unsettling._

_Cindy narrows her eyes. "Okay, and what does that have to do with me?"_

_"Well, maybe once he meets you he'll forget all about what's-her-name."_

_"That's a little unrealistic."_

_"Is it?"_

_"_ _Hey, Cindy, the boss needs you," Sarah says, tapping her knuckles on Cindy's desk._

_"Tell him I'll be there in 5."_

_"Okay."_

_Sarah walks off and Cindy can't help but feel a little disappointed._

_"So, will you go on a date with him?"_

_"Sure, why not?" It's a little sadistic because it would be funny to see how nervous and uncomfortable he is at this surprise date._

"And then you went on the date with Ben, correct? And that's how you met?"

"Yes. Other than that insanely awkward phone call."

"What did you talk about on the date?"

Cindy huffs. "At first, it was just lame small talk. Since you were the one who set us up, we talked about you for a little while."

"And then?"

"I'm getting to that."

_"I have to be honest with you."_

_Ben freezes a little and looks at her curiously. "Yeah?_

_"I sort of have feelings for someone I work with."_

_"Oh. Wait, what?" He pauses. "Well, that makes what I'm about to say a lot easier."_

_Cindy tilts her head to the side in confusion. "What?"_

_"I sort of like someone in city government too."_

_"Oh. Well, that worked out perfectly," Cindy snorts._

"And did you know that it was Leslie he wanted?"

"That's a really creepy way to say it, but yeah. I asked him who it was, and then I guessed correctly, because those two were always flirting."

"And then you told him about Miss Ross."

"Sarah, yes. Have you talked to her yet?"

Chris ignores the question. "And that's how you became friends, correct?"

"Well, yeah. We were able to relate about something we couldn't talk with many people about. Is that so far-fetched?"

"Not at all. Then a few weeks later, Miss Ross got a new job and you were able to date."

"Yes. Ben and I fought about that. He was a little jealous, and I don't blame him for that."

"Uh-huh. But then, some more time passes, and he and Leslie get together. Did he tell you about that?"

"This again? Yes!"

"So you went on the date, became friends, you got together with Miss Ross, and he got together with Leslie. Then they broke up for a few months, and they're back together now. Can you confirm that timeline?"

"The same stupid question," Cindy mutters, resisting the urge to look over at Leslie. "Yes."

"Did he ever talk to you about the break-up? Could you tell if he was having a hard time?"

Thank God; he's finally asking a new question. A stupid one, but Cindy's choosing not to be picky right now. "Definitely. He missed her so much."

"Is there anything specific he said that comes to mind?"

"No. This might not be important, but a couple months ago, Sarah and I had a fight. Leslie and Ben helped us get back together, and it was right after they broke up. They ignored the awkwardness to help us. I think that says something about their professionalism. They can put aside their issues to help other people."

"Thank you, Miss Miller. That will be all."

//

"Hey, how'd it go?" Ben asks as the door closes behind Cindy.

"They keep asking me the same damn questions over and over. I can't even imagine how it's going for Leslie."

"What did Chris say to you?"

"I told him you two were the most professional people I knew, after answering the same questions a thousand times." She says that last part very bitterly.

"How do you think it's going?"

"I honestly don't know, but they're definitely not going easy on her. Not now, not ever." She takes a seat next to Ben.

"Damn."

"Yeah. By the way, have you seen Sarah?"

"I'm here," Sarah says. "They called me earlier. It was... a lot."

Sarah and Cindy's phones ping at the same time.

**Leslie - We're taking a recess. Can you guys get everyone else and come back?**

**Ann - We're on our way. It's going to be okay.**

**Leslie - Thanks, Ann!**

**Cindy - I'm with Sarah and Ben at the moment, but we're coming.**

"Is that that group chat I keep hearing about?"

"Yeah. They're taking a break. She needs us to come over. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Yeah. There's something I need to do."

//

After the cab picks up Ethel, Ben pulls Leslie against him, pressing his lips to her cheek before pulling away and saying, "Should we go in now?"

"Yeah."

Her phone pings in her pocket as they go inside.

As they remove their coats and sit on the couch, turning on the TV, it pings 3 more times.

"Okay, I need to know more about this group chat," Ben says.

Leslie pulls out her phone, snuggling against him with a blanket as they read the text messages.

"Why is it called 'Where Brain Cells Come to Die'?

"Cindy," Leslie says, and it immediately explains everything.

"Up to speed."

**Sarah - Wow, Ben quit his job.**

**Cindy - Someone's getting laid tonight.**

**Sarah - Cindy what the hell**

**April - Ew, nerd sex.**

**Leslie - Why is this a topic of conversation?**

**Leslie added Donna to the group chat.**

**Sarah - Hi, Donna!**

**Donna - What's this I hear about nerd sex?**

**Sarah changed the chat name to 4 Brunettes, a Redhead, and a Blonde.**

**Ann - Ooh, I like the new name.**

**Sarah - Thanks, Ann! 😁**

"Oh, God. That's... horrifying," Ben says.

"I know. Cindy's right, though."

Ben looks confused for a moment, but when Leslie pulls him into a searing kiss, he smiles in understanding.


	22. Satisfaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ben go on a double date with Cindy and Sarah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I started this fanfic almost 5 months ago. It's far from the best in this fandom, but this is certainly an accomplishment. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read and encouraged me while I was writing this, especially Mandy, who commented on every chapter. 
> 
> Another thank you to Dumb_Trash_Monster, who has beta read several of my chapters. 
> 
> As much stress as this fic brought me at times, I've gotten attached and I'm going to miss it, however marking it as complete is very satisfying for me. 
> 
> This is the longest thing I've ever written. Thank you, everyone, for supporting me through all this. It means so much to me. 
> 
> :)

Ben wakes up slowly with his arm tightly wound around Leslie's middle. He smiles at the sight of her in his bed, stretching his arms up and being careful as to not jostle her too much, sitting up.

His phone makes a noise and he groans sleepily as he turns it on.

C **indy - Hey, Ben. Sarah wants to go on a double date. When are you free?**

**Ben - Anytime. Leslie's suspended and I'm unemployed.**

**C - We're thinking Wednesday night. Is that good?"**

**B - Perfect.**

Leslie chooses this moment to wake up, slowly rising into a seated position the way Ben had just minutes before.

"How are you doing?" Ben whispers to her happily.

"I'm going crazy. I want to go to work!" Leslie whines.

"I know." He scoots closer to her, resting his hand on her thigh. He leans back against the headboard and Leslie rests her head on his shoulder. He brushes his lips against her forehead, his right arm coming up to wrap around her shoulders, and she smiles.

"I know you want to go to work, but maybe there are some other things we can do to pass the time."

"Like what?" Leslie asks, feigning innocence.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," he says as he kisses her.

"I think I do."

//

"What restaurant are we going to?" Sarah asks as she applies her pink lipstick.

Cindy runs her hairbrush a few more times through her waist-length hair just to be safe before turning back to her girlfriend and saying, "Italian food. That one we went to a few months ago, when Ben kept texting me stupid shit."

"Ooh, I like that restaurant. What's it called?"

"Antonelli's," Cindy says, coming out of the bathroom.

"You look beautiful, by the way."

"You're not so bad yourself."

"You suck," Sarah says, pushing back a loose strand of red hair in the midst of faint laughter, her green eyes sparkling, matching her dress.

"You love it," Cindy retorts, giving herself a once-over in the mirror before coming out of the bathroom, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles on her burgundy dress. "Why are we doing this double date again? I'm not against it; I just wanna know."

"Because," Sarah starts, "We have all been through so much dumb shit that it would be nice to have a moment to reflect on how things have changed. Also, Leslie's losing her mind with the suspension."

"Yeah, it's actually kind of funny."

"She called me at 3am yesterday asking me if I wanted to bake cookies with her,so no, it's not that funny."

"But as an unaffected outsider, it is," Cindy points out.

"First of all, you're not an outsider in this. Second, you'll be singing a different tune the moment Leslie asks you to do something weird."

"Not really. My entire personality is being a chaotic dumbass."

"Yeah, true. Are you ready to go?" Sarah asks.

"Yeah. I gotta go bay at the moon real quick; give me a minute."

"Cindy!"

"Fine, I'll do it later," Cindy huffs in mock offense as they leave, shutting the door behind them.

//

"How early did you guys get here?" Cindy asks as she and Sarah approach Leslie and Ben at their table.

"Too early. I told Leslie we didn't need to," Ben defends himself.

"Well, I'm sorry that I want to get here on time to not inconvenience Sarah and Cindy."

"You can get somewhere on time without showing up 40 minutes early," Ben says, laughing at her.

"Shut up."

"This is off to a nice start," Sarah says.

A waiter arrives at their table after Cindy and Sarah sit down. "Order a calzone and I'll kill you," Cindy threatens him.

"Me too," Leslie says.

"Me three," Sarah pipes up.

Ben glares at the three of them as they put in their orders. Sarah orders fettuccine Alfredo, Cindy and Leslie order penne pasta, and Ben orders a calzone both for his own benefit and to spite everyone else.

"You suck," Cindy groans as he does.

Leslie nods her head ardently, and Sarah rolls her eyes at Ben.

"Why is everyone ganging up on me?" Ben asks.

"Because you did a stupid thing. Speaking of stupid, a little birdy told me you bought a _Batman costume_. When were you gonna tell me about that?"

"You did what?" Leslie asks, choking on her wine.

"I was going through some stuff!" Ben defends himself.

"Apparently."

"Who told you that anyway?"

"I don't reveal my sources."

"It was Donna, wasn't it?"

"Damn it. How did you know?"

"Just a guess."

"Speaking of Donna," Sarah says, holding her phone out for everyone to see.

**Donna - How's everyone doing?**

**Ann - Fine, you?**

**Donna - On fire! I have a date with a sure thing.**

**Cindy - I get the sense the reason you asked us is so you can brag about that.**

**Donna - Bullseye.**

**April - Ew, this is gross.**

**Cindy - Agreed. But not worse than Ben's nerd sex, right?"**

**April - God, no.**

**Sarah - ...**

**Leslie - Guys-**

**April changed the chat name to Opposers of Nerd Sex.**

"Can you guys stop talking about me in that group chat?" Ben interrupts their passionate texting, stabbing his calzone with his fork in frustration.

"We don't talk about you that often. You're not that interesting," Cindy goads him.

"More importantly, is the nerd sex thing a jab on both of us, or just Ben?"

"No, just Ben. Don't worry, Leslie, we love you."

Leslie cheers while Ben takes an annoyed sip from his glass of red wine.

"What? They like me," Leslie says, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

"If you weren't so cute, I'd kill you," Ben whispers to her, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips.

Cindy covers her eyes. "Gross," she says.

Ben's glare reappears as he gazes at Cindy. "However, I _can_ always settle on killing Cindy."

"Way ahead of you," Sarah says, taking a bite of her fettuccine.

"I don't think you'll win," Leslie says, "I'm pretty sure Cindy here has a collection of knives."

Cindy snaps her fingers at Leslie. "Correct. I also have a number of other weapons."

"Is it just me or would she get along perfectly with Ron?" Leslie asks, turning to Ben.

"They hate emotions, drink alcohol, and love weapons. She already gets along with April, so why not?"

"How's the job search going, by the way?" Sarah asks Ben.

"Fine. I've been offered a few jobs but there's nothing that really speaks to me."

"You know what job speaks to me?" Cindy says.

Sarah rolls her eyes. "What, Cindy?"

"Coroner."

Sarah rolls her eyes. "Well, _Lucinda_ , let's maybe not talk about dead people right now."

"Lucinda?" Ben whispers to them confusedly.

Cindy facepalms. "Sarah."

"That's a pretty name. I don't see what the big deal is," Leslie says.

"Me neither. Sarah thinks this is funny for some reason."

"Because it is."

"Moving on. How are you dealing with the suspension?"

"I. Am. Going. Crazy," Leslie says.

"She really is."

Leslie growls at Ben.

"That was weird," Sarah remarks.

"It was hot," Cindy quips back quickly.

"Uh, what?" Sarah turns to her with a bewildered look on her face.

Cindy rolls her eyes. "You know, Leslie, if you want we can do some stuff together to pass the time," Cindy offers, sending a subtle wink over to Sarah.

"Yes, please."

They eat the rest of their dinner happily, ganging up on Ben multiple times and discussing the infamous group chat. When Ben goes to the bathroom, Cindy puts a whoopee cushion where he was sitting while Sarah and Leslie hold back laughter and questions about why Cindy had a whoopee cushion with her in the first place.

They drink a more wine and then talk outside for a little bit, waiting for the alcohol to wear off, and when it does, Leslie and Ben drive off together, and so do Sarah and Cindy.

Sarah was right; it was a good idea to go out tonight.

It's coming full circle now. Several months ago, Cindy and Ben went on a date where they agonized over their wanting what they couldn't have.

Now, after a lot of unnecessary drama, like Cindy's parents, Leslie and Ben's breakup, the fights, and the trial, they all came out on top.

Cindy and Ben became friends because they wanted to vent about their mutual frustration, and although things didn't turn out exactly how they had planned, it's not frustration anymore.

It's satisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> considering making a series and adding this with another fic full of drabbles and stuff from this universe. thoughts?


End file.
